Covid-19 hospital total continues to fall, but coronavirus infections leveling off

Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 422 patients with Covid-19 on Saturday. That was down 3 percent compared to Friday afternoon, after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths. The figure has fallen four days out of the previous five, dipping to its lowest point since the third week of July.

The current hospital total includes 128 people in intensive care units, a net decrease of four. That was the lowest ICU total since July 24. The other 294 patients were in regular care wards, falling to its lowest level since July 19. The regular care wards were treating 11 fewer patients compared to the previous day.

The combined total was down 10 percent compared to last Saturday. A similar decrease would bring the total down to 380. Daily hospital admissions this week totaled an average of 42, including 7 ICU admissions per day, the lowest since the first week of the fourth coronavirus wave.

Still, there were signs that the steady month-long decline in new daily coronavirus infections has leveled off. The seven-day average for new infections was 1,673 on Saturday, the second slight increase in a row. The average, based solely on raw data, was just 1 percent lower than a week ago.

The positivity rate climbed back up to a weekly average of 7.9 percent after rising steadily since the third week of September, when 7.3 percent of those tested by the GGD were diagnosed with the infection. Testing at the GGD has also been declining, with the municipal health service completing fewer than 20,000 tests per day.

The RIVM included another 1,686 positive coronavirus tests in its daily update. The three cities with the most new infections were Amsterdam (88), The Hague (87), and Rotterdam (77). Of the three, only Rotterdam posted a figure which was better than its moving average.

Some 2,006,421 positive coronavirus tests have been recorded in the Netherlands since the start of the pandemic.