Nearly 12,000 more Covid infections; Hospital total trending towards 2,000

The moving average number of daily coronavirus infections rose 6 percent to 10,492 on Monday after the RIVM disclosed that 11,848 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus between Sunday and Monday morning. It was the most positive tests recorded on a Monday since December 20. Figures can often be lower on Sunday and Monday due to delays in weekend test processing, or people simply waiting until the work week to schedule a test.

Official weekly figures from the RIVM are released on Tuesdays, covering the seven preceding days. Due to the high number of infections reported on Monday, the Netherlands was likely to report the highest weekly total this year. The record took place during the week of December 22, when over 82,300 positive tests were registered.

Nearly 65,700 tests have been registered in the past six days. That will likely eclipse the initial Delta variant peak from July of over 69,700, putting the country on pace for the second highest weekly total since the start of the pandemic. Wide-scale testing did not start until around June 1, 2020.

The current seven-day moving average of 10,492 is at its highest point since December 27. Though experts thought the growth in infections was slowing down, that trend reversed on Friday. The average has gone up by 41 percent in a week, based solely on raw data from the RIVM. A combination of raw and corrected data put the figure at 10,458. It has gone up nearly every day for over five weeks.

Amsterdam led all municipalities with 409 new infections. The city's moving average has gone up 38 percent in a week to 387. Rotterdam followed with 406 infections, pushing that average up to 298, reflecting a weekly increase of 34 percent. In The Hague, 288 more people tested positive. That city's average stood at 260, a 48 percent week-to-week increase.

Covid patient total nears 1,600, with 2,000 possible in a week

Meanwhile, hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 1,573 people with Covid-19 on Monday, a 4 percent increase since Sunday afternoon. May 26 was the last time the patient total was that high. The figure has gone up by 30 percent in a week, with growth slowing down a bit last week.

A similar 30 percent gain would put the patient total at about 2,050 by next Monday.

There were 326 people with the disease in an intensive care unit, the most since June 7. That figure went up by 21 in a day after accounting for new admissions, discharges and deaths. The other 1,247 people were being treated in regular care wards, a net increase of 62.

Hospitals admitted 1,388 Covid-19 patients during the past seven days, a 31 percent increase compared to the previous week. Among them are 195 new ICU patients, up nearly 63 percent. The figures include 188 patients admitted in the last 24 hours, including 35 sent directly to an intensive care unit.

The RIVM has registered 2,212,814 positive coronavirus tests since the start of the pandemic.