Covid hospitalizations stabilize after 2 month rise, but 22,700 more infections
Hospitals in the Netherlands admitted 2,338 people with Covid-19 during the past seven days, four percent fewer than the previous seven-day period. It was the first week-to-week drop in figures released by the national patient coordinator (LCPS) in two months.
The figure includes 306 people sent directly to an intensive care unit, seven fewer than the previous week. Just in the past 24 hours, hospitals sent 29 patients with Covid-19 to an ICU, the first time that dipped below thirty in three weeks. Another 281 were admitted into regular care wards.
Hospitals were treating 2,670 patients with the coronavirus disease on Saturday afternoon, down two percent from the previous day. It was the first time since the beginning of October that the LCPS reported a decrease over two consecutive days. The combined total was just two percent higher than a week ago.
Among them are 597 patients in intensive care units. Though that has gone down by six in a day, it still showed that the space allocated for Covid patients in ICUs was 92 percent full. The government is working with hospitals to expand that capacity by 100 to 1,250 for Covid and non-Covid patients.
The regular care wards were treating 2,073 Covid-19 patients. That figure fell by 52 after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths.
Still, new coronavirus infections remained high in the Netherlands a month after the Cabinet began progressively implementing more social restrictions in the country. Some 22,723 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection between Friday and Saturday morning, the sixth-highest total since testing became widely available in June 2020.
That figure caused a slight rise in the seven-day moving average, which stood at 21,716. That remained about three percent lower compared to a week ago, according to the raw data updates. A combination of raw and corrected data put the figure at 21,666.
Between November 26 and December 2, the GGD branches tested an average of 96,500 per day. About 20.2 percent of them were diagnosed with the infection. That figure has been steadily falling for a week from a peak of roughly 22.5 percent.
The three cities with the most new infections were Amsterdam (811), Rotterdam (695) and The Hague (638). All three figures were above average. A high number of infections was also reported in Utrecht (550), Tilburg (400), and Eindhoven (325).