Covid hospitalizations below 1,100; ICU total below 400

Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 1,098 people with Covid-19 on Thursday, down eight percent in a day. That was the biggest rate decrease since August 27.

The hospital total included 394 people in intensive care units, the first time the figure has dipped below four hundred in over seven months. The ICU total decreased by 26 patients after accounting for admissions, discharges and deaths. The regular care total fell by 65 to 704.

The combined hospital total has gone down by 27 percent in a week. An average of 89 new Covid-19 patients have been admitted into care each of the past seven days. That figure remained unchanged on Thursday.

Public health agency RIVM also said on Thursday that another 2,803 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. That brought the seven-day average down three percent to 2,887, a level not reached since the end of September.

Rotterdam (156), The Hague (105), and Amsterdam (103) were the three cities reporting the most new infections for the day. The Hague's total was slightly above average, while the others were below their respective moving averages.

People have tested positive for the coronavirus 1,657,017 times since the start of the pandemic.