Coronavirus average falls for 18th straight day; Covid hospital total nudges up again

Some 2,951 new coronavirus infections were registered between Thursday morning and Friday morning. That is lower than the previous Friday’s total. As a result, the average number of positive tests for the SARS-CoV-2 infection is continuing to fall.

Exactly one week ago, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) registered nearly 3,500 new positive tests. The Friday before that total was almost 6,500, and another Friday earlier it was almost 11,400.

In the past seven days, almost 19,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus. That equates to an average of 2,703 cases per day based on raw data, or 2,675 cases per day with some corrected data. That is the lowest level in almost a month. The average has fallen for the eighteenth day in a row.

In twenty municipalities not a single resident tested positive in the new daily data.

Amsterdam had the highest number of confirmed infections. In the capital, 243 people were told that they had contracted the coronavirus. This is followed by Rotterdam with 129 positive tests and The Hague with 105. In Almere 80 people tested positive and in Utrecht 53.

There are 679 Covid-19 patients in Dutch hospitals on Friday. That is an increase of six patients compared to 24 hours earlier, according to the latest figures from the LCPS.

On Wednesday, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals fell for the first time in three weeks, but the number has been increasing again since then. There are now 206 people in intensive care units with severe symptoms from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. That is an increase of seven compared to Thursday.

In the regular nursing wards the number of Covid-19 patients decreased by one to 473.

The combined hospital total was four percent higher compared to a week ago. A similar increase would bring the total up to 712.

The seven-day average number of new hospitalizations for the disease was 88, twelve percent lower than a week ago. On Friday, 90 people with the disease were admitted to hospitals, including 24 who were sent immediately to intensive care units.

The number of deaths rose by eight. It concerns two Amsterdammers and two people from The Hague, and also residents of the municipalities of Maastricht, Gorinchem, Westerkwartier and Gulpen-Wittem. The deaths did not necessarily occur in the past 24 hours.

In the past seven days, the RIVM was told that 37 Covid-19 patients died, an average of about five a day. That is the highest level since June 11. This is to be expected; when the number of coronavirus cases rises, a few weeks later the number of hospital admissions increases, and then so does the number of deaths.

Currently, the number of coronavirus cases is falling and the number of new hospital admissions is marginally increasing. Then the number of deaths could also start to fall again.

The number of deaths is not comparable to the situation around the turn of the year, just before the start of the vaccination campaign. Then there were over a hundred reports of deaths per day.

There is no requirement to notify the RIVM of Covid-19 deaths. All causes of death are reported to the CBS, the country’s national statistics office.