Covid hospital total at highest level since June 1 as patient admissions triple

The number of people being treated by hospitals for Covid-19 on Monday rose to its highest point since June 1. The average number of new patient admissions was nearly triple what it was on October 1. At the same time, with another 7,744 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the average number of people infected on a daily basis has increased almost every day for a month.

There were 1,212 people in Dutch hospitals with the coronavirus disease on Monday, an increase of 8 percent compared to a day earlier. The hospital total has jumped by 52 percent in a week. A similar increase would put the figure close to 1,850.

Data from patient coordination office LCPS showed that 235 patients were being treated in intensive care units, the most since June 16. The tally rose by 16 in a day after accounting for new patient admissions, discharges and deaths. The other 976 Covid-19 patients were being treated in regular care wards, a net increase of 74. The combined increase of 90 patients was the most reported in a daily update from the LCPS in a half-year.

Hospitals admitted 123 new patients into regular care, and 18 into intensive care, in the past 24 hours. During the past seven days, hospitals admitted 1,057 patients with the disease in total, compared to 759 the previous week. Fewer than 290 people with the disease were admitted during the seven-day period ending October 1. New hospitalizations for Covid-19 have reached the highest point since the third week of May.

Raw data released by the RIVM each of the past seven days put the average number of daily coronavirus infections at 7,459. That figure rose by 5 percent on Monday after the RIVM acknowledged 7,744 new positive tests for the infection since Sunday morning. The average number of infections has gone up by 41 percent in a week, and was 4.5-times the figure at the start of October.

The infection average rose nearly every day in October, as did the seven-day average percentage of people testing positive for the infection. About 16.5 percent of people tested by the GGD during the last week of the month received a positive diagnosis, up from 7.9 the week ending October 1. That figure's low point after the fourth wave of infections was 7.3 percent, reached during the third week of September. About 38,500 reported to the GGD daily for a coronavirus test during the last week of October, up from an average of 19,200 at the start of the month.

The three cities reporting the most new infections on Monday were Amsterdam (216), Rotterdam (194), and The Hague (158). All three were below their respective averages, though the averages have increased significantly in recent weeks.

A surprisingly high number of infections were also seen in Breda (129), which ranked fourth, followed by Sittard-Geleen (115). Those two cities have shown a dramatic increase in infections during the past few days. Positive tests were also high among residents of Venlo (114) and Weert (95), though it was not yet clear if those figures were outliers, or if they indicated a trend.

A total of 2,139,746 positive coronavirus tests have been registered by the RIVM since the start of the pandemic.