Dutch coronavirus average now worse than before curfew
Update: The Ministry of Health announced on its Coronavirus Dashboard it will no longer issue daily updates about the Dutch vaccination program.
Public health agency RIVM said that another 10,492 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. That pushed the seven-day moving average up to 8,444, the most since January 2.
Consistently high coronavirus infections in December led to several weeks where hospitals were treating between 2,500 and 3,000 patients with Covid-19. That led the government to impose a stricter set of lockdown measures in December, and the introduction of a mandatory curfew in January which did not end until April 28.
The new national seven-day average has increased 13-times compared to when infections began to rise after June 30. It has gone up by 406 percent just in the past week.
Amsterdam's moving average topped a thousand for the first time since testing was carried out on a wide scale. Some 1,215 residents tested positive for the infection, pushing the average up to 1,021.
Rotterdam (744), Utrecht (514), Groningen (458) and The Hague (308) all had remarkably high daily figures.
Hospitalizations for the disease have started to tick up in the Netherlands, but are not expected to reach the same heights of the second and third wave of the pandemic.
The LCPS said that 21 people were admitted into hospital care for treatment of the disease between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, the most since most coronavirus social restrictions were lifted on June 26. The patient total includes 18 people who were sent to regular care wards, and three others sent directly to intensive care.
Over the past week, hospitals have taken on an average of 15 patients daily. That has gone up from nine daily patients on average on July 7.
There were 212 people being treated for the coronavirus disease on Wednesday, an increase of four percent. The total was now three percent higher compared to a week ago, the first week-to-week gain since the start of May. A similar increase would see 219 people in care next Wednesday.
The hospital total included 74 ICU patients, reflecting a net decrease of one, and 138 regular care patients. That was up nine after accounting for deaths, discharges and admissions.