Signs placed on the pavement to remind people of social distancing rules at the Almelo train station. 28 July 2020 - Credit: Wirestock / DepositPhotos

Wednesday, 21 April 2021 - 16:01

Over 8,500 more test positive for coronavirus; Average rises further

Another 8,530 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, a day after Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge told reporters that the country reached the peak of third wave infections. The total was 24 percent higher than a day earlier, and 55 percent higher than a week ago, data from public health agency RIVM showed.

It pushed the seven-day moving average up for the seventh day in a row. The average reached 8,184 on Wednesday, the highest it has been in over 15 weeks. The moving average is over 55 percent higher than it was three months ago when the curfew was introduced, one of several lockdown measures which will disappear starting next week.

This calendar week, infections have reached 22,588. That three-day total was 19 percent higher than a week ago. The infections are being driven by heavy increases in the three largest cities, with the 393 residents of Rotterdam testing positive daily on average. That figure hit 345 in Amsterdam, a third higher than a week ago, and 290 in The Hague, a 21 percent hike.

Covid-19 vaccinations rose by 98,856 on Tuesday, ten percent below the seven-day average. The RIVM predicted that about 730 thousand vaccine injections will be given through the end of the week. So far, 4,787,163 jabs have been given, including about a million which were a person's second dose of a two-shot vaccine.

The number of patients with the coronavirus disease fell by about one percent between the afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday. There were 2,615 Covid-19 patients being cared for in total, five percent higher than last week. If that rising trend continues, there will be 2,739 people in care next week.

The Wednesday tally included 1,792 people in regular care, a net decrease of 38. The other 822 patients were in intensive care, a net decrease of one but still nearly the highest tally in a year.

To date, people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 infection 1,426,243 times. Some 16,983 people died from Covid-19, according to the RIVM, but the national statistics office said the final figure will be higher by thousands.