Coronavirus infections fall further; Covid hospitalizations hit 2-month high
Update: The RIVM said that some infection data was not included due to an IT failure, and would be added to Thursday's results.
New daily coronavirus infections in the Netherlands dipped to their lowest point since July 6. Meanwhile, the number of new Covid-19 patients admitted in a hospital reached 119 during the past 24 hours, the most since May 28.
Some 3,513 people were diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, public health agency RIVM said. The figure has trended down over the past 12 days as rapidly as it rose. The July surge in infections was brought on by the Delta variant and a sudden elimination of most social restrictions on June 26. Some restrictions were put back in place about ten days later.
The seven-day moving average fell by nine percent to 4,887. That figure was half of what it was a week ago.
Amsterdam (235), Rotterdam (157) and The Hague (107) were the three cities with the most new infections. The latter was about 20 percent below its average, while the two larger cities were roughly a third below average.
The number of new Covid-19 hospitalizations was expected to peak at some point this week. The 119 patients admitted between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon included 24 who were sent straight to intensive care, also the highest since May 28.
That pushed the current patient total up for the 15th consecutive day. There were 629 patients with the coronavirus disease in Dutch hospitals on Wednesday, 13 more than the previous day.
That included 164 patients in intensive care units, a net increase of five after accounting for admissions, discharges and deaths. The other 465 were being treated in regular care, a net increase of eight.
The combined patient total was 47 percent higher than a week ago. A similar increase would push the total up above 925.
To date, people have tested positive for the coronavirus infection 1,854,784 times.