Over 21,000 new coronavirus infections push average to another record high
Some 21,099 people were diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection between Thursday and Friday morning. That was about 2,500 below the record set a day earlier. The infections have been at record high levels, holding above 19,000 since Monday.
A telecommunications failure at the GGD meant that a large number of positive tests were not reported over the weekend, but instead carried over into this calendar week. The update of raw dataset provided by the RIVM on Friday was expected to be the first that not include additional data from previous 24-hour periods.
The large number of infections reported on Friday was the second-highest during the pandemic. It pushed the seven-day moving average up 4 percent to a record high of 18,727, according to the raw data. That figure was 43 percent higher compared to a week earlier. A combination of raw and corrected data put the figure at 18,688, which has increased for 50 consecutive days.
About 21.1 percent of those tested by the GGD from November 11-17 received news that they were infected with the coronavirus. That is also a new record. The rate was at its lowest during the Delta variant era about two months ago, when it sat at 7.3 percent.
The basic reproduction number also rose higher, with data released on Friday putting it at 1.26 on November 4 after an evaluation of two weeks of data. That means that 100 people contagious with the coronavirus infected 126 others, who then passed it on to another 159 people. They in turn spread the virus to 200 more people. On November 1 and October 28, the figure was at 1.22.
For the third time this week, hospitals admitted over three hundred patients with Covid-19 in a 24-hour period. A total of 317 new Covid-19 patients were registered between Thursday and Friday afternoon, including 49 sent directly to an intensive care unit.
There were 2,147 people with the disease in hospital care on Friday, a net increase of 37 after accounting for new admissions, discharges and deaths. The hospital total rose by 22 percent in a week. A similar increase would put the figure at 2,630.
Of the patients in treatment, 428 were in intensive care units, a net increase of 15. That was the highest since June 1. The other 1,719 were in regular care wards, a net increase of 22 that took the total to its highest point since May 22.
During the past seven days, hospitals took on 1,942 patients with the disease, a 27 percent increase compared to the previous week. That includes 273 sent directly to an ICU, a 41 percent rise.