Coronavirus cases rise towards 10K; Covid-19 hospital figures up 22% in a week

The number of new coronavirus infections reported in the Netherlands rose for the third straight day, reaching 9,719 on Thursday. After hospitals in the country admitted nearly three hundred more patients with Covid-19, the number of admitted patients in treatment was 22 percent higher than on Christmas Eve.

Data from public health agency RIVM showed that an average of 9,254 people have been diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection on each of the past seven days. For this calendar week, 34,237 people have tested positive for the virus, down 21 percent from last week. It was not yet clear how much of that decline was due to the Christmas holidays and the winter storm which hit over the weekend, causing a substantial decline in the number of people who were tested.

Hospitals admitted 294 people with Covid-19 into regular care between the afternoons of Wednesday and Thursday, the same as the seven-day average. During that time, 38 more patients were moved into intensive care, a below average sum for the first time this week.

After accounting for admissions, deaths and discharges, Dutch hospitals were treating 2,817 people with Covid-19 on Thursday, an increase of 113. While the ICU total of 713, an increase of 11, was moving towards figures not seen since April, the regular care tally of 2,104 was already there.

The combined hospital total stood 22 percent higher than a week earlier after an average daily increase of three percent. Should that rate continue, there will be close to 3,500 patients being treated for the disease in a Dutch hospital by January 5.

The RIVM also said that 109 more people died as a result of Covid-19, shifting the average to 87. Deaths linked to the disease were up by about 23 percent this week. To date, 11,432 people in the Netherlands are known to have died from Covid-19, according to the RIVM. The Dutch statistical office CBS said that figure was likely to be larger by about three thousand based on excess mortality this year.

Thursday's update raised the total number of people in the Netherlands who tested for the virus to 796,981. Roughly three quarters of a million people have tested positive for the infection since June 1, when testing was opened up to the general public.

The three cities with the most reported infections were Amsterdam (387), Rotterdam (262) and The Hague (188). All three showed a decline compared to last Thursday, with Amsterdam posting a 12 percent drop, Rotterdam down by 16 percent, and The Hague by 23 percent. The two larger cities were both above their moving averages, while The Hague showed a slight improvement by comparison.