9,000 new coronavirus infections; Covid hospitalizations up
Some 8,966 more people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the Netherlands, public health agency RIVM said on Friday. That was the highest number of infections reported in a single day since January 8, though part of the latest total may include data that was missing from Wednesday's abnormally low figures.
The Friday total raised the seven-day moving average up to 7,548, the highest that figure has been in over three months. The RIVM reported a total of 36,820 coronavirus infections this calendar week, about 12 percent above the same period last week.
Combined with increasing Covid-19 hospitalizations, it dimmed optimism that the Netherlands would be able to relax some lockdown measures by the end of April. Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Mark Rutte suggested as much before his meeting with Cabinet members.
There were 2,490 people with Covid-19 in hospitals on Friday afternoon, a one percent increase in a day. The tally included 1,698 people in regular care, a net increase of ten, and 792 in intensive care, a net increase of three.
The combined total was virtually unchanged compared to a week earlier. Figures from patient coordination office LCPS showed that 293 people with Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals between the afternoons of Thursday and Friday, barely higher than the seven-day average.
The RIVM's revised vaccination model said that an estimated 116,119 people were given a Covid-19 vaccine shot on Thursday, about a thousand below this week's average. It pushed the total number of shots given up past 4.25 million between January 6 and Thursday, April 15.
The Netherlands was on pace to meet exceed its weekly target of 758 thousand vaccines administered, depending on the drop-off in appointments over the weekend.
To date, people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus 1,387,043 times. The RIVM has learned of 16,873 deaths from Covid-19, though there is no obligation to report such fatalities to the agency. The national statistics office, which receives all death reports in the country, said the real total was likely to be higher by thousands.