Covid infections surpass the 6,000 mark, meanwhile deaths and hospitalisations continue to decline
Public health agency, RIVM, reported that another 6,093 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Saturday. This reflects a two percent change compared to Friday. The number of Covid-19 infections has been rising for over a week. The number of Covid-related deaths has, however, been in decline. Hospitals, too, continue to report a reduction in coronavirus patients.
Saturday’s total reflected a two percent rise compared to Friday and a three percent increase compared to last week.
This pushes that tally of total number of infections since Monday to 31,613, a two percent increase since last week. The average number of coronavirus infections during the past week was 5,296.
Meanwhile, the number of national deaths has been declining. On Saturday, the RIVM reported 48 deaths. This is a six percent decline compared to the previous day and a 44 percent decline compared to last Saturday.
The cities with the highest numbers of infections were Amsterdam (416), Rotterdam (329), and The Hague (133). Utrecht was able to drastically cut down its infection rate, having reported 69 new cases. This was a 54 percent decline compared to Friday. Numbers in Amsterdam and Rotterdam keep climbing up. The former reported a 24 percent increase, while the latter saw an eleven percent rise compared to the previous day.
Hospitalizations have dropped as well. Patient coordination office, LCPS, reported 1,352 new patients in regular care, down 62 compared to Friday. Additionally, there were 550 patients in intensive care units. This was a net three increase compared to the day before.
This brings the Covid-19 patient total to 1,902, a three percent decrease since Friday and a ten and a half percent drop since the same time last. The seven-day average has been falling as well. This week’s hospitalizations mark a one and a half percent drop compared to the previous week. Following this trend, the number of hospitalized patients should be around the 1,700 next Saturday.
Ernst Kuipers, the head of the Dutch acute care providers network, explains that “The ratio between the number of inpatient and ICU patients decreased from 5 to 1 at the beginning of the second wave to less than 2.5 to 1 now. This is the result of the earlier increase in infection among the elderly and the longer admission duration of IC patients. ”
In the 24-hour period leading up to Saturday afternoon, hospitals admitted 185 non-ICU patients and 45 ICU patients. Eleven patients were moved between regions, including four IC patients.
To date, hospitals have treated 23,688 Covid-19 patients in regular care and 5,271 IC patients, reports NICE, a nonprofit organization. Some 4,585 people have died while in treatment.
