Covid patient total up 5% to highest point in 24 weeks

The number of Covid-19 patients being treated in Dutch hospitals rose 5 percent to 1,647 on Tuesday, the highest total number since May 25. The patient total has been consistently on the rise for over five weeks when the figure was at a low of 422.

Just in the past week, it has gone up 26 percent. A similar increase would put the total up over 2,071.

The current figure includes 1,328 patients in regular care. That was 81 more than on Monday afternoon, after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths.

The other 319 people were in intensive care units, a net decrease of seven. It was the first time the ICU total has gone down since October 26.

Hospitals admitted 244 people in the past 24 hours, the most since mid-May. That includes 18 people sent directly to intensive care, according to the LCPS. The hospitals took on 1,401 patients the past seven days, up 22 percent in a week. ICU admissions alone have gone up by nearly half.

The average number of new daily coronavirus infections reached 11,005 on Tuesday, based on raw data from the RIVM. That was the highest all year, similar to figures from December 26. A combination of raw and corrected data put the total closer to 10,970.

About 17.2 percent of people tested by the GGD were diagnosed with the infection during the first week of November, the highest rate in over a year. Testing has also increased, but has not topped figures from the first Delta variant wave in July.

The three cities with the most new infections were Amsterdam (331), The Hague (320), and Rotterdam (318). In the latter, the total was about average. Figures in Amsterdam were about 14 percent below average, and in The Hague it was about 13 percent above average.

Since the start of the pandemic, the RIVM has registered 2,224,096 positive coronavirus tests.