Coronavirus up 67% from last week; Most Covid hospital cases in Randstad

The Netherlands recorded its fifth-highest total of new coronavirus infections on Saturday, with public health institute RIVM saying that 1,231 people tested positive for the virus. Although that was three percent lower than on Friday, it was 88 percent higher than last Saturday’s total.

About 800 of Saturday’s new infected people are residents of the Randstad, which encompasses the metropolitan areas of Amsterdam, The Hague, Leiden, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Since Monday, the Netherlands as a whole has registered 6,225 more infections of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, up 67 percent from last week, raising the Dutch total since late February above the 82 thousand mark. While a portion of the could be due to more testing, the percentage of those getting a positive result was expected to be about 20 to 25 percent higher than last week based on current testing capacity.

“The number of admitted Covid patients continues to rise, following the rising number of infections for the past ten days,” said Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care providers network. “Three-fourths of the patients admitted are in Randstad hospitals,” he said.

Jaap van Dissel of the RIVM suggested this week that new social restrictions should be placed on the larger Dutch cities because of the rising number of infections. Earlier in the week, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said this was likely in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and that a national lockdown was possible if the numbers continue to rise.

There were 175 people being treated in Dutch hospitals for Covid-19 on Saturday, an increase of three from Friday’s total, patient coordination office LCPS said. Some 138 of the patients were being treated outside of the acute care system, an increase of two, and 37 were being treated in intensive care, an increase of one.

“The number of admitted patients is expected to continue to rise in the coming week,” Kuipers conceded. While the three-day rolling average of new hospital admissions fell slightly, nine more people were moved into intensive care from Wednesday through Friday.

The latest data from nonprofit organization NICE showed that 3,071 residents of the Netherlands with Covid-19 have been treated in an ICU since the end of February. While 2,025 were eventually released from the hospital, 895 died in intensive care.