Dutch Covid-19 hospital total hits 100-day high; Infection avg. up again

There were 2,653 people being treated for Covid-19 in Dutch hospitals on Tuesday afternoon, patient coordination office LCPS said. That figure rose by four percent in a day, pushing the total to its highest point in 103 days just hours before the Cabinet was expected to announce the relaxation of several coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

The total surged up after a 24-hour period in which more Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals than in any other day since mid-December. It included 823 patients in intensive care, a figure which has steadily risen since mid-February. The ICU total went up by a net increase of ten on Tuesday. The other 1,830 Covid-19 patients were being treated in regular care departments, a net increase of 99. 

The combined hospital total stood four percent above where it was one week ago. Should that rate continue for seven more days, there will be over 2,760 Covid-19 patients in care by next Tuesday. Nearly 18 percent of all hospital patients in the Netherlands were being treated for the coronavirus disease.

Another 6,871 people also tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, public health agency RIVM reported in its daily statistics. While showing the second straight daily decrease, it was still one percent higher than a week ago.

That was enough to push the seven-day average up for the sixth consecutive day. It reached 7,751 on Tuesday, the highest that average has been since January 6.

To date, roughly 4.6 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the Netherlands, according to a model used by the RIVM to estimate the total. That figure unexpectedly shot up by 19 percent one week ago when the agency adapted its model and applied the change retroactively.