Coronavirus average hits new five-week high

The Netherlands added 5,090 more new coronavirus cases to the country's count on Wednesday, a 26-percent increase over Tuesday's total, and a 15-percent rise compared to last week. That pushed the seven-day average up to 4,696, the highest since January 28.

So far this week, 12,948 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, data from public health agency RIVM showed. That was four percent higher than the same period a week ago.

The country's healthcare workers were estimated to have used 45,664 Covid-19 vaccine doses on Tuesday, about a thousand more than the moving average. So far this week, an estimated 106,311 vaccines have been administered, down 15 percent from last week.

Since January 6, the country has provided 1,425,319 vaccine jabs, the RIVM estimated. About 75 percent of those were a person's first dose of the two-dose regimen required for maximum protection with the three vaccines approved for use in the European Union.

Meanwhile, Dutch hospitals were treating 1,946 people with Covid-19 on Wednesday afternoon, a two-percent decrease from Tuesday. Most of that reduction was in the nursing wards, which saw a net decrease of 47 patients to 1,397. The intensive care units were treating another 549 people, an increase of nine.

The combined total was still three percent higher than last week. Should that rate hold, there will be 2,015 patients with the coronavirus disease in care next Wednesday. Hospitals admitted 177 patients to regular care over the past 24 hours, which pushed up the moving average to 182. Another 49 were accepted into intensive care, which brought the average up to 34.

The RIVM also said that 48 more people died from Covid-19, which dropped the rolling average to 42. This week, 136 such deaths have been confirmed, down 28 percent from last week.

To date, 15,697 deaths caused by Covid-19 have been reported to the RIVM. A total of 1,101,430 people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 infection since the end of last February.

The three cities with the most new infections on Wednesday were Amsterdam (305), Rotterdam (194) and The Hague (119). The high figure in Amsterdam was likely a correction of the low sum reported there a day earlier. The seven-day average there stood at 210, which has gone up by nine percent in a week. A similar average increase was also seen in Rotterdam (177) and The Hague (110).