Covid ICU total falls below 500 for first time in over 5 months

The total number of Covid-19 patients in the ICU sunk below 500 on Sunday for the first since December 13. There are currently 499 patients with Covid-19 being treated in the ICU, a net decrease of 22 compared to Friday.

In the regular hospital wards, there are another 853 patients with the coronavirus disease, 66 fewer than the day before.

The combined total of 1,352 Covid-19 patients in hospital, a net decrease of 88 equivalent to a six percent fall. The hospital total is at its lowest since October 12 after having declined for eleven straight days. The figure has gone down 22 percent in a week. Should the trend continue, the patient total will fall to roughly 1,050 by next weekend.

Patient coordination center LCPS said that 110 new Covid-19 patients have been admitted between Friday and Saturday afternoon, one below the seven-day average of 111. Out of the total new admissions, 17 were sent to the ICU and 93 were sent to a regular hospital ward.

Approximately 127,768 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Friday, bringing the seven-day average down to 131,093. Fewer than 650 thousand people received a Covid-19 jab so far this week, which makes it unlikely the Ministry of Health will hit its target of just over one million unless the number of vaccines given over the weekend exceeds the current average by a third.

Thus far, health officials estimate that 9,099,559 jabs have been administered. Health minister Hugo de Jonge said on Friday that it could take until mid-July for all adults in the Netherlands to have access to at least one vaccination shot. For months, De Jonge repeated this would already be possible at the beginning of July. The delay was due to the delivery issues with the Janssen vaccine.

The RIVM reported on Saturday that a total of 3,438 people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the seven-day rolling average up one percent to 3,191 infections. The cities with the highest new infections are Amsterdam (205), Rotterdam (170) and Den Haag (113).

Despite the slight increase, the seven-day average was 24 percent lower compared to a week ago. Combined with improving hospital and vaccination figures, it gave government officials confidence to relax more social regulations implemented because of the pandemic.

On Friday, the Cabinet said it will initiate the third step of the six-step plan to reopen the country on June 5. This includes that museums, cinemas and theaters are allowed to open again, and restaurants can welcome up to 50 guests indoors and on terraces. A bevy of other restrictions will also be relaxed.

Should the coronavirus crisis continue to improve the Cabinet plans on proceeding with both steps 4 and 5 to relax many more lockdown restrictions by June 30.

Since the onset of the pandemic people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the coronavirus a total of 1,644,699 times.