Over 18,600 coronavirus infections today, including record 1,600 in Amsterdam

A total of 18,616 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus between Monday and Tuesday morning, the most in a single day since December 9. That pushed the seven-day moving average up by 9 percent, the biggest rate of increase since November 16. It was the seventh consecutive day that growth in the average was reported.

The average stood at 16,272, based solely on raw data. A combination of raw and corrected data put the figure at 16,222, up 35 percent in the first full week since the Omicron variant became dominant in the Netherlands.

Coronavirus testing by the GGD rose slightly during the past calendar week to 50,600 per day. About 30.8 percent of them tested positive, setting a new record. About two-thirds of those who visited the GGD had not first received a positive result from a self-test kit. Roughly 17.7 percent of them tested positive.

Roughly nine percent of the infections reported on Tuesday, 1,634, were found in residents of Amsterdam, setting a new record for any municipality in the Netherlands. The city's population makes up about five percent of the country's inhabitants. On average, 1,212 Amsterdammers tested positive each of the past seven days, a 61 percent increase in a week. The Omicron variant was already dominant in the capital a week longer than it became the main variant infecting people in the rest of the Netherlands.

Another 765 people from Rotterdam tested positive, bringing that city's average up to 750, a 44 percent increase. A total of 542 people from Utrecht also tested positive, bringing that city's average to 368. The average in The Hague was 37 percent higher than a week ago, standing at 484.

Hospitals were treating 1,706 people with Covid-19 on Tuesday afternoon, down two percent in a day after accounting for new admissions, discharges and deaths. The total was 15 percent lower compared to a week ago. A similar decrease would bring the figure down to 1,457.

There were 477 patients in intensive care units, of whom 13 were in German hospitals. The ICU figure was down a net total of 11. There were 1,229 people in regular care wards, a net decrease of 26.

Dutch hospitals admitted 179 patients with Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the most in six days. The figure includes 28 people sent directly to an intensive care unit. Hospitals admitted 158 people on average each of the past seven days, down 14 percent in a week to the lowest point since November 1.