Covid hospital cases, new infections fall to mid-March levels
The number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 fell on Saturday to its lowest point since March 21. Simultaneously, the average number of new coronavirus infections dropped to a low not seen since March 18.
In total there are currently 2,183 Covid-19 patients being treated in hospitals, the lowest total in 55 days. The number on Saturday marked a net decrease of 67 compared to Friday afternoon.
Of the total number of patients, 710 are in intensive care, while 1,473 are being treated in a regular hospital ward. The ICU total continued to fall towards sub-700 levels for the first time in seven weeks.
The LCPS said that 260 people with the coronavirus disease were hospitalized between the afternoons of Friday and Saturday. That included 220 to a nursing ward and 40 in an ICU.
With that, the moving average for hospital admissions fell to 231. The Cabinet stated that they will confirm on Monday their decision to relax further restrictions on May 19 should the combined seven-day average remain 20 percent below the third wave peak, setting the milestone at 250.
Officials are still waiting to see if there will be a spike in infection rates after the King’s Day celebrations.
The public health agency, RIVM, announced on Saturday that an additional 4,520 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This brought the seven-day average down seven percent compared to Friday, to 5,830.
That was 21 percent lower compared to a week ago. At the same time, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus has been on the rise towards 13 percent while testing has remained near a months-long low.
The cities with the highest new coronavirus cases are Rotterdam (213), Amsterdam (203) and Den Haag (146).
The RIVM estimated that a total of 139,151 doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered in the past 24 hours. This brings the seven-day average up to 133,879. In total, 937,153 Covid-19 vaccination doses were administered in the Netherlands this week.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, people in the Netherlands tested positive for the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus a total of 1,593,728.