RIVM: 2,999 new coronavirus infections today; 1,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations likely next week

The Netherlands set a new record for infections of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus for the sixth time in seven days, with 2,999 more people testing positive, data on Sunday showed. Hospitalizations for Covid-19 also rose for the 25th straight day to 617. With the hospital total growing by over eight percent daily, Dutch medical facilities could have 1,000 admitted Covid-19 patients by the end of Saturday.

The new infections brought the weekly total up to 17,857, a 34-percent increase over last week’s total. The Sunday tally was nine percent higher than Saturday, and 62 percent higher than last Sunday, according to preliminary data from public health agency RIVM.

Amsterdam was the city with the most new infections, with 465, followed by Rotterdam with 282. In The Hague, where authorities Saturday night cleared out a large restaurant for violating rules to prevent crowding, 229 more people tested positive for the virus.

Over the past seven days, the Covid patient total rose an average of 8.5 percent every day. Should that rate continue, Dutch hospitals would be treating just shy of 1,100 patients for the coronavirus disease by next Sunday.

“The sharp increase in the number of admitted Covid patients is in line with expectations. We expect a similar further increase in the coming week,” said Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care network. “This combined with regular care will pose a challenge for hospitals in the coming week.”

Several hospitals in the Netherlands, especially in Noord-Holland, have begun reopening specialized departments and centralized operations for treating patients with Covid-19. The hospitals have said they are the best options to keep non-Covid care continuing during a second wave of the virus.

On Sunday, the hospitals were treating 617 people for the coronavirus disease, an increase of 62 in a day. That was the highest single-day increase since patient coordination office LCPS began releasing statistics in April, and the most patients in the ICU since June 2.

Some 490 of these patients were outside of intensive care, an increase of 57. The Dutch ICU system was also treating 127 patients, an increase of five. To date, 3,237 people in the Netherlands have been treated in intensive care for Covid-19, including 909 who died during treatment, and 2,087 who were eventually released from hospitals.

The RIVM was able to confirm 38 hospitalizations with its early data, though some of those patients may have been admitted on earlier days. Five of these patients were from Amsterdam, and five from Rotterdam. Eight more deaths linked to the disease were also registered.

Since the end of February, 6,374 people confirmed to have Covid-19 died as a result of the disease, and 12,626 have required hospitalization. A total of 111,626 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus infection.