Seven-day average highest since mid-January; experts say it's too early to relax covid restrictions

The coronavirus continues to hold the Netherlands in its grip. On Sunday, the national public health agency RIVM reported 7,025 new cases of the SARS-Cov-2 virus. This was an eight percent decrease compared to the previous day but still, a nine percent increase compared to last week. The seven-day rolling average is now at 6,377, which is the highest since January 15. 

The cumulative number of infections for the calendar week is at 44,638, a 24 percent increase compared to the same period the previous week. Given the recent rise in new coronavirus infections, experts argue that restrictions cannot yet be loosened. 

The three cities with the highest number of new infections on Sunday were Amsterdam (309), Rotterdam (290), and The Hague (215). In the Capital, infections went up 42 percent compared to last week. In Rotterdam, new infections remained the same compared to last Sunday, and in The Hague, the increase was 50 percent. 

Number of hospitalized patients on the rise

Meanwhile, the total number of patients being treated for Covid-19 in Dutch hospitals has increased again compared to the previous day. On Sunday, the patient coordination center LCPS reported a total of 2,073 hospitalizations, a net increase of 26 versus Saturday. 

611 patients were stationed in intensive care wards, nine more than the previous day. Another 1,462 patients were being treated in regular care, up 17 compared to Saturday. The number of hospitalizations increased by eight percent this week. If this current trend continues, there will be around 2,239 hospitalized Covid-19 patients Saturday next week. 

Between the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday, hospitals admitted 225 new coronavirus patients. Among them, 194 were placed in regular care wards, a two percent increase compared to last week. Another 31 patients were moved to the intensive care, a 16 percent decrease versus last Sunday. 

Dutch vaccination rate drops compared to other EU countries

An estimate from the RIVM also showed that, so far, 2,070,474 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered. That was an additional 29,542 injections in one day, bringing the number of vaccines in the past seven days to 204,927. 

According to last week's data provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Netherlands currently ranks seventeenth among EU member states for the percentage of the population that has received the first dose of the vaccine. So far, a little over ten percent of the population eligible for a vaccine have received at least their first shot in the Netherlands. 

Another 15 deaths were also reported as being caused by Covid-19, the RIVM said. That brought the seven-day average to 29.  In the past week, 200 people died of the virus, 18 percent less than the previous week. 

To date, 1,201,545 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the SARS-CoV2 infection. That includes 16,275 people who died from Covid-19.