New coronavirus cases drop below 5,000 mark; Down 46% over last Monday

Some 4,709 more people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, public health agency RIVM said in its statistical update on Monday. That was the lowest daily total since October 6, and continued a week-long overall trend of declining infection figures.

It marked a substantial 17 percent drop off compared to Sunday's total, and was 43 percent lower versus figures released a week ago. The consistent decreases has led to political speculation that no region in the Netherlands will be placed under a stricter lockdown this week.

In fact, the seven-day rolling average for new infections fell further with the latest data, dropping down to 6,686. A week ago, that figure 30 percent higher at 9,535.

Rotterdam (344), Amsterdam (220), and The Hague (150) were the three cities with the most newly infected residents in Monday's statistical update. Rotterdam improved by nearly a third compared to a week ago, with Amsterdam posting a 40 percent drop. In The Hague, the total fell by 46 percent. The seven day averages in the three cities were 457 in Rotterdam, 337 in Amsterdam, and 230 in The Hague.

At the same time, the total number of people hospitalized for the coronavirus disease rose on Monday for the first time in six days. The total stood at 2,317, meaning hospitals were treating 22 more patients compared to Sunday afternoon. Still, it was almost nine percent lower than the Covid-19 hospital total a week ago.

There were 600 patients in intensive care, an increase of two, and 1,717 people with Covid-19 outside of intensive care, an increase of 20. Those were net increases after taking deaths and discharges into account. Hospitals admitted at least 177 people with Covid-19 over the 24-hour period leading into Monday afternoon, and 40 patients were moved into intensive care during that time.

The "very slight increase" was "nothing to worry about," said Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care providers network, during a press conference on Monday. "The decline was so fast that you can expect it to bounce."

For each of the past seven days, the admitted patient total dropped by about 1.2 percent on average. Should that rate hold, it would mean that hospitals will have a projected Covid-19 patient total of 2,115 next Monday.

The daily update from the RIVM noted that 40 more deaths were linked to Covid-19, raising the total number of cases with a fatal outcome to 8,043. Over the past seven days, an average of 83 deaths were reported daily.

As of Monday's update from the RIVM, some 414,745 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the coronavirus infection. That total starts from the end of February, though testing was not widely available to the public until June 1.