New coronavirus infections down 40 percent compared to last Tuesday

Some 4,695 more people tested positive for an infection of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, over 40 percent lower than a week ago, public health agency RIVM said in its daily statistical update on Tuesday. It was the second consecutive day with fewer than five thousand infections, and represented a very slight decrease of 14 cases compared to Monday's figures.

So far this week, 9,404 people tested positive for the infection, 42 percent lower than the same period last week. Over the past seven days, the rolling average of daily infections has fallen to 6,246.

The three cities with the most new cases of a coronavirus infection were Amsterdam (255), Rotterdam (199) and The Hague (176). Each showed substantial improvement over last Tuesday's figures, with Amsterdam falling by 31 percent and Rotterdam down by an impressive 67 percent. The Hague also showed an impressive 52-percent drop. The seven-day average number of new infections in Amsterdam stood at 320, with Rotterdam at 400 and The Hague down to 203.

The average number of deaths linked to Covid-19 rose from a daily average of 62 reports a week ago to 81 on Tuesday, on the news that another 98 cases had a fatal outcome. To date, some 8,141 people have died from the disease.

Hospitals in the Netherlands admitted at least 258 people for the coronavirus disease during the 24 hours leading up to Tuesday afternoon. While that was more than 31 percent above Monday's admissions figures, it was just slightly above the seven-day rolling average of 242.

During that time, 39 people were also moved into intensive care units, patient coordination office LCPS said.

The Covid-19 hospital total declined by 22 patients to 2,295, after taking into account patient deaths and discharges. That included 598 patients in intensive care, down two on Monday's total, and 1,697 outside of the ICU, a decrease of 20. The total dropped by over one percent compared to a week ago.

Over the past seven days, the admitted patient total fell by an average of two percent daily. Should that rate of decrease hold, the patient total will drop next week to below 2,000 for the first time since October 21.