RIVM: 14,742 new coronavirus infections; Covid hospital total falls 4%
A total of 14,742 positive coronavirus tests were recorded by the RIVM between Friday and Saturday morning. That brought the seven-day moving average down for the 13th consecutive day to its lowest point since November 15. The figure stood at 14,791, about a fourth lower than it was a week ago
Despite the consistent decline, the Cabinet of the Netherlands is expected to announce that the country will enter a strict lockdown starting at 5 a.m. on Sunday. The strict new measures are meant to stall the impact from the highly contagious Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This could buy enough time to widely expand the Covid-19 booster vaccine campaign. The lockdown is expected to expire on January 14.
A positive diagnosis was given to about 24 percent of people tested by the GGD during the seven day period ending on Thursday. That was tied for the all-time record set earlier this month. About 57,000 people were tested on average per day during that period, the lowest in six weeks. Earlier in the week, the RIVM suggested fewer people were getting tested because they were using self-tests more frequently. Those who test positive at home are more likely to get a confirmation test from the GGD.
Amsterdam (677) led all cities with the most new infections in Saturday’s data. Menno de Jong, an Outbreak Management Team member and a virologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, said that about a fourth of all new infections on Wednesday were caused by the Omicron variant. Research has shown that infections caused by the variant are doubling every two to three days.
Rotterdam followed with 565 infections, and The Hague was next with 515. All three cities were a bit higher than their weekly averages.
The number of patients in hospital care who were being treated for Covid-19 also fell for the sixth day running. There were 2,373 patients with the disease in hospitals on Saturday, 99 fewer than on Friday after accounting for new admissions, discharges and deaths. The hospital total was 14 percent lower compared to a week earlier.
Out of that total, 637 were in intensive care units including 19 in German hospitals, a net decrease of one. The other 1,736 were in regular care wards, a net decrease of 98.
The ICU patient total has held above 600 for almost two weeks. The combined patient total has been above 2,000 for over a month.
Hospitals admitted 233 new Covid-19 patients in the past 24 hours, 29 of whom were sent directly to an intensive care unit. On average, 245 patients were admitted each of the past seven days, 23 percent fewer than the previous week.