Dutch coronavirus average sets new 9-week high; Hospitalizations rise overnight

Another 7,888 people were diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, public health agency RIVM said on Tuesday. Hospital admissions for Covid-19 also increased for the second straight day with 18 people admitted into care between Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

Though daily infections have fallen for three straight days, the figure was still five-times what it was a week ago. That pushed the uncorrected seven-day moving average up to 7,472, the highest it has been since May 9. A full epidemiological report for the last week was due from the RIVM at 3 p.m., but there was a short delay to its publication.

Over a thousand residents of Amsterdam tested positive for the third straight day, with that city's moving average now 916, an increase of about 549 percent in a single week.

Groningen had the second most infections reported for the day, with 379, bringing that city's average up to 398. Rotterdam also reported 378 more infections, which set its moving average at 485.

There were 204 people being treated for Covid-19 on Tuesday, a net decrease of nine patients. The decrease was entirely within the intensive care units, which saw their patient total fall to 75, after accounting for admissions, discharges and deaths. The other 129 patients were being treated in regular care, unchanged from Monday.

The combined patient total was about four percent lower compared to a week ago. However, acute care leader and Erasmus Medical Center chair Ernst Kuipers expects the hospital total to rise in due time. "This is a reminder for many people: the virus is not gone. We have to act on that together with common sense,” he said.

The surge in coronavirus infections reported since the start of the month will likely lead to 800 more hospital admissions, Kuipers told a Parliament committee meeting on Tuesday. He does not yet believe the overwhelming spike in patients recorded during the third wave will happen.

“But every increase gets in the way of regular care and catch-up care,” he said. The Dutch hospital system and healthcare experts believe it will take between one and two years to catch up on a backlog of delayed surgeries and treatments which were brushed aside to deal with the coronavirus crisis.

Hospitals admitted 18 people for Covid-19 during the 24 hours leading into to Tuesday afternoon, the most since June 26. Two of those patients were sent directly to intensive care.

On average over the past week, hospitals have admitted 13 patients per day, including two ICU patients. A week earlier, hospitals took on about nine Covid-19 patients daily.