Coronavirus infections up 81% as testing resumes; Covid in ICU at 56-day low

Coronavirus infections in the Netherlands rose by 3,226 as many of the country's testing centers continued their return to normal operations after winter storm Darcy brought high winds, low temperatures, and snow on Sunday and Monday. The daily total released by public health agency RIVM on Wednesday was 81 percent higher than on Tuesday, but was 21 percent lower than last week.

It shifted the moving down to 3,426, the lowest seven-day average since October 3. Several test locations operated by municipal health service GGD were still closed, including seven sites in Rotterdam which were likely to be shut through Sunday, though the GGD said they had enough capacity to test anyone who schedules an appointment.

The estimated total number of vaccinations administered rose by 30,212 to 626,146 by the end of Tuesday. The increase was slightly above average for the past week, which included the two days that vaccination centers were moderately or severely impacted by the recent winter storm.

The tally includes everyone who has received one or two injections of the two-dose vaccines approved for use in Europe. As of Sunday, about 66,400 people received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. No patient has yet received the second dose of the Moderna vaccine.

Covid-19 situation in hospitals dropping

There were 1,990 patients with Covid-19 being treated in Dutch hospitals on Wednesday afternoon, a net decrease of 20 compared to the previous day. That total has fallen by ten percent over the past week, according to patient coordination office LCPS. If the trend continues there will be fewer than 1,800 people in care next Wednesday.

Hospital occupancy due to Covid-19 has continued on a downward trend since hitting a second-wave peak of 2,751 on December 29. "We expect this to continue for the next week," said the LCPS in a statement. "We are closely monitoring the developments regarding the British variant, because its emergence in the coming weeks may lead to an increase in the number of infections and hospital admissions," it said in reference to the B117 coronavirus mutation.

The combined patient total on Wednesday afternoon included 533 intensive care patients, the lowest level since December 16. The ICU figure fell by 17 in a day. The other 1,457 were in regular care, a net decrease of three after taking into account admissions, discharges and deaths.

Hospitals admitted 199 more patients with the coronavirus disease in their regular care wards since Tuesday afternoon, about 25 percent more than on average over the past week. Another 20 people with Covid-19 were placed in intensive care, a bit below average.

To date, 1,012,908 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection in the Netherlands. A total of 14,590 people are known to have died from Covid-19.