Most Covid-19 patients in 7 weeks, with more expected soon: Expert

Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 11 more patients for Covid-19 on Thursday than a day earlier. The total of 177 patients was the highest it has been in seven weeks.

"The number of COVID patients in Dutch hospitals is gradually increasing. This has shown a doubling compared to the end of July," said Ernst Kuipers, the chair of the acute care providers network in the Netherlands.

Outside of intensive care, there were 138 patients being treated for the coronavirus disease, an increase of 13. There were another 39 people being treated Inside the ICUs, a reduction of two, according to patient coordination office LCPS.

"This means that the number of patients is still far behind the number of infections. This is partly because a relatively large number of infections occur among young people," Kuipers said.

"Nevertheless, it is in line with the expectation that the number of COVID patients admitted will increase further in the next two weeks."

In the past three days, 19 deaths linked to Covid-19 have been reported to public health agency RIVM, including ten on Thursday. It was not immediately clear when those deaths took place, a detail which was likely to be revealed when the RIVM releases official statistics on Tuesday.

The preliminary data showed on Thursday that another 529 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, raising the week's total up to 2,052. The RIVM said that 32 patients were admitted to hospitals from Monday through Wednesday for Covid-19, and ten people were also moved into intensive care units.

A total of 3,008 people in the Netherlands have been treated in an ICU for the coronavirus disease since the end of February. Some 1,948 were eventually discharged from the hospital, while 877 patients died in the ICU, according to figures from nonprofit organization NICE.