Covid hospital total below 500 for first time in 9 weeks; Infections falling

Dutch hospitals were treating 491 people with Covid-19 on Friday, the first time the total has been below 500 since July 23. The hospitalized total has gone down by 13 percent in a week. A continuation of that trend would bring the figure close to 425.

Intensive care units were treating 175 of the patients, the lowest number since July 28. The ICUs were treating eight fewer people than on Thursday after accounting for new admissions, discharges and deaths.

The regular care wards were treating the other 316 patients, a net decrease of 14 in a day. "The COVID occupancy in both the clinic and the ICUs has fallen over the past week. We expect this decline to continue the upcoming week," patient coordination office LCPS said.

"The influx of COVID patients fell last week, especially in the wards; the influx has remained more or less the same for intensive care." Data from the organization showed that hospitals took on 22 percent fewer patients the past seven days compared to the week before. Hospitals admitted an average of 47 Covid-19 patients each of the past seven days, including 10 sent directly to an ICU.

The Netherlands recorded another 1,718 infections of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, according to the daily update of raw data from the RIVM. That brought the seven-day moving average down to 1,758. The moving average has fallen 17 percent in a week, and was still at its lowest point since July 7.

About 7.7 percent of those tested by the GGD from September 15 - 21 were diagnosed with the infection. That figure averaged 8.4 percent the previous seven-day period. Testing for the virus has fallen by about 7 percent per day.

Amsterdam led all municipalities with 104 new infections registered on Friday, the first time the capital's total topped one hundred in a week. The city's moving average fell to 89 on the news. Rotterdam recorded 95 new infections which shifted the city's average down to 89. Another 83 infections were reported in The Hague, the same as the mean there.

A total of 1,993,309 infections were reported in the Netherlands since the start of the pandemic.