Covid-19 cases in hospital up 25% in a week

The number of patients in Dutch hospitals with Covid-19 has gone up by 25 percent in the past week, said Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care providers network. The patient total rose by seven to 153 on Wednesday, patient coordination office LCPS said.

Among the patients were 31 in intensive care units, an increase of one, and 122 outside of the ICUs. That was six more than on Tuesday. The consistent increase in new patients over the past week effectively wiped out the progress made in the two previous weeks.

“This coincides with the increase in the number of new infections. The total number of patients admitted is still low, the largest regional occupation is in Amsterdam and Rotterdam," he said.

Earlier in the day, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said new social restrictions were likely in the two cities because of the surging number of new infections there. "If those measures do not help, then you will end up with measures like what we had to take in the Spring," he said in reference to the "intelligent lockdown" strategy implemented earlier in the year.

Public health institute RIVM also said that 23 people were hospitalized from Sunday through Tuesday, and six people were moved into intensive care during that time. To date, 3,058 people were treated in intensive care for Covid-19 since the end of February. Of that group, 2,009 people were released from the hospital, while 891 died in the ICU, according to figures from nonprofit organization NICE.