Coronavirus seven-day average hits 5,293; Weekly decline leveling off

Coronavirus infections released on Thursday were about a quarter higher than a day earlier, as public health agency RIVM recovered from an IT outage affecting their statistics. Some 5,725 more people infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were reported to the RIVM, which brought the seven-day rolling average to 5,293.

The day's total was over 1,100 higher than the previous day. The RIVM had estimated that the delay affected that the details of about a thousand cases on Wednesday.

When combined, the new tally raised the total number of infections for the week to 19,546, about five percent lower than the same period a week ago. The previous two weeks had shown far greater decreases. During a press conference last week, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said he wanted to see the national infection total fall to about 1,200 per day in order to relax more of the social restrictions in place to slow the spread of the virus. A limited relaxation of rules went into effect on Thursday, bringing the country back to the partial lockdown first enacted in mid-October.

With 207 more infected residents, Rotterdam was the city most represented in the new data, though its total was 37 percent lower than a week ago. An estimated 169 new infections were uncovered in Amsterdam, its lowest total in over a month, and a 57 percent drop off from last Thursday. The Hague ranked third, with 161 infections, a decrease of seven percent.

The deaths of another 75 people were linked to Covid-19, data from the agency showed. That total brought the seven-day average down to 68.

At least 224 people were hospitalized because of Covid-19 from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon, according to patient coordination office LCPS. During that time, 37 patients were also moved into intensive care.

Overall, the Covid-19 patient total fell by 57 patients to 2,030. There were 1,475 people being treated in regular care, a decrease of 53, and 555 were in intensive care, a decrease of four.

The patient total was about eight percent lower than a week ago, with the average daily decrease during that period holding at just over one percent. At that rate, there would be fewer than 1,875 admitted Covid-19 patients by next Thursday.

To date, hospitals have treated 23,416 people for the coronavirus disease in regular care. An estimated 5,202 people were treated in an ICU, according to figures from nonprofit organization NICE. Some 4,527 of the hospital patients died during treatment.

A total of 467,257 people in the Netherlands have been diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection since the end of February. At least 8,771 people died from Covid-19, the RIVM said.