Dutch Covid hospitalizations down 8% this week; Coronavirus average falls for 27th day straight

Hospitals in the Netherlands took on 558 patients with Covid-19 during the week ending Sunday afternoon, according to the latest data from patient monitor LCPS. That was an eight percent decrease compared to the previous week, though little has changed in the total number of patients currently in care.

The combined patient total includes 444 people admitted into regular care wards, and 114 sent straight to intensive care units. That means that hospitals took on almost 80 patients with the coronavirus disease on each of the past seven days, including 16 sent to an ICU. By comparison, an average of 87 patients were admitted the previous week, with 18 sent to ICU.

Hospitals admitted 70 new patients with the disease over the past 24 hours. That was the lowest in 11 days, tying August 4 for a four-week low. The total reported on Sunday included 13 people sent directly to intensive care.

Still, the LCPS reported on Sunday that there was a three percent increase in the number of Covid-19 patients in care versus Saturday. There were 671 patients being treated for the coronavirus disease in total, an increase of 19 in a single day. That was the largest daily rise since the start of the month.

The patient total was less than one percent lower than a week ago, and it has remained above 600 since July 27. There was a net gain of two patients in intensive care, which pushed the ICU total back to 200. There were 471 others being treated in regular care wards, a net increase of 17 after accounting for new patient admissions, discharges and deaths.

The number of new coronavirus infections was slightly lower on Sunday compared to both the previous day and the previous Sunday. There were 2,298 new infections diagnosed during the past 24 hours, public health agency RIVM showed in raw data.

That brought the seven day moving average down less than one percent to 2,345, extending the streak of daily reductions to 27 consecutive days. The average was 11 percent lower compared to a week ago, and 77 percent lower than the current wave’s peak of 10,160 on July 19.

At the same time, the rate in which people test positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection rose to a seven-day average of 14.1 percent. The average has now been above 12 percent since July 8, the longest stretch of time since a period from early December through mid-January.

Amsterdam (222) was the city with the most new infections among its residents, 16 percent above the weekly average there. It was the third day in a row the capital learned of over two hundred more individual infections.

Rotterdam followed with 100, about 13 percent below average. Some 91 people in The Hague tested positive, slightly above average.

People in the Netherlands have tested positive for the coronavirus infection 1,901,900 since the start of the pandemic.