Covid hospital total tops 2,000 for first time in 5 weeks; Infections rising

Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 2,019 people for Covid-19 on Monday afternoon, the highest current total since February 8. At the same time, over two months into the vaccination process, just one Covid-19 death was reported from a care home down from a second-wave peak of 69 in early January.

The hospital total rose five percent in a day, and was six percent higher compared to last Monday. The tally fluctuated between 1,800 and 2,000 for over four weeks, but patient coordination office LCPS raised concerns during that time that highly contagious B117 coronavirus mutation could cause more infections and thus more hospitalizations for Covid-19.

Hospitals placed an average of 208 Covid patients into regular care on each of the past seven days, up nearly twenty percent in a week. On average, forty others were placed in intensive care, unchanged from last week.

"The daily influx into hospitals is increasing slightly," the LCPS wrote on Monday, mentioning the assumed dominance of the B117 strain. "On this basis, we expect a gradual increase in COVID hospital occupancy."

Of the 2,019 patients, 1,455 of them were in regular care, a net increase of 87. The other 564 were in intensive care, reflecting an increase of ten.

Infection average back to mid-January levels

Data from public health agency RIVM showed that the moving average of new coronavirus infections stood at 5,588 after rising for eight straight days to the highest mark in nearly two months. Another 5,549 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 infection, the RIVM said on Monday, up 41 percent from a week ago, but down eight percent from Sunday.

Preliminary data suggested that about 7.7 percent of people who scheduled their own coronavirus test with the GGD last week were given the positive diagnosis. That figure rose slightly over the last few days, but it has remained in the range of 6.8 to 8.1 percent for over two weeks.

More improvements at nursing homes

Of the infections reported on Monday, just 16 were found in residents of a care facility. That was the lowest reported in a single day since September 12. It was sharply lower than the second wave peak of 468 recorded on December 17 as the Netherlands entered lockdown.

The number of deaths in nursing homes which were caused by Covid-19 also fell to one. The peak during the second wave, 69, was registered on January 4, two days before the country began vaccinating people against the disease.

Care home residents were among the first in the Netherlands to have access to a vaccine. The last time the country went a single day where not one Covid-19 death took place at a care home was September 15, 181 days ago.

An estimated 1,892,689 vaccine doses have now been administered in the Netherlands. Most of those were a person's first dose, with around a half-million having been fully vaccinated against the disease.

To date, people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 infection 1,162,661 times. Some 16,087 people diagnosed with Covid-19 died from the disease, including the 18 reported by the RIVM on Monday.