Covid hospital total hits 3-week high; Average daily infections near 80,000
Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 1,386 people with Covid-19, the LCPS said on Thursday. That was 14 more than on Wednesday afternoon, pushing the figure to its highest point since January 12. The hospital total has gone up six times in seven days, increasing by 23 percent in a week.
There were 218 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, a net daily increase of three after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths. The figure has gone up two consecutive days for the first time since the start of the month. The other 1,168 patients were in regular care wards, a net increase of 11.
Hospitals admitted 217 new patients with the disease since Wednesday afternoon, 16 of whom were sent directly to an intensive care unit. A total of 1,318 patients were admitted the past seven days, up 37 percent in a week. That includes a 46 percent increase in ICU patients, with 102 admitted during that period.
The RIVM recorded a total of 82,961 positive coronavirus tests between Wednesday and Thursday morning. That was the third highest total since the start of the pandemic, but well below the 40,000 below the record set on Monday.
That pushed the seven-day moving average up to 79,563, an all-time record. The average was 35 percent higher than last Thursday.
However there were still concerns about the accuracy of data released by the RIVM. The health institute and the GGD municipal health services were still behind on recording 113,000 positive coronavirus tests taken over the past 17 days. That backlog increased by 9,000 since Wednesday.
About 59.3 percent of those tested by the GGD between January 26 - February 1 were given a positive diagnosis for the coronavirus. The health service tested 143,627 people each of those seven days.
The three cities with the most new infections in the latest round of data were Amsterdam (4,127), Rotterdam (3,531), and The Hague (2,384).