Covid hospital total falls below 300; No ICU admissions for 48 hours
Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 296 people for Covid-19 on Wednesday, the first time that number has dipped below 300 since September 18. It was also the second day in a row that no new patient admissions were sent directly to intensive care.
The current hospital total fell by four percent between the afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday.The total included 168 patients were being treated outside of the ICU, a net decrease of 14.
The other 128 patients in intensive care, a net increase of one, which includes patients who were transferred from another hospital department.
All told, eleven new patients were admitted into care during the previous 24 hours. None of them were sent directly to intensive care, the second straight day with no new ICU admissions, according to LCPS.
That has not happened since July 28-29, 2020, according to data from hospital monitor NICE.
The combined patient total of 296 was 30 percent lower compared to a week ago. Another 30 percent drop would bring the total down to 207 by next Wednesday.
Public health agency RIVM also reported 657 new positive tests for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, the most in five days. The seven-day average still decreased on the news less than one percent to 608.
The seven-day average, while showing signs of leveling off, remained 22 percent below last week's average.
The three cities with the most new infections were Amsterdam (51), Rotterdam (42), and The Hague (21). Only Amsterdam was above its moving average.
Groningen was in fourth place with 16 infections, the most recorded there since the beginning of the month. The total was double its seven-day average.
No new Covid-19 deaths were reported to the RIVM for the third time in five days. The agency has learned of 17,745 deaths in total, though figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) showed that total was likely at or near 30 thousand as there is no obligation to report such fatal outcomes to the RIVM.
People have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection 1,685,000 times since February 2020.