Covid ICU total falls below 160; Coronavirus positivity rate at 60.7%
Intensive care units in the Netherlands were treating 159 patients with Covid-19 on Friday, the lowest figure reported by the LCPS since October 19. The patient monitor said that the ICU total fell by four after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths. Another 1,354 patients were in regular care wards, reflecting a net decrease of 38.
Combined, there were 1,513 patients with the coronavirus disease in Dutch hospitals on Friday, down 3 percent from the previous day. The total has fallen by 4 percent in a week. A similar fall would take the total below 1,450 for the first time since early February.
The hospitals admitted 173 new patients with the the disease in the preceding 24 hours, including eight sent to intensive care. That put the seven-day hospitalization average at 172, down 10 percent in a week. That was the lowest average since the start of the month.
The RIVM also said that 37,617 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus between Thursday and Friday morning. That brought the seven-day moving average down 4 percent to 37,302. The average was 36 percent lower than one week earlier.
However, the positivity rate has continued to climb, rising above 60 percent for the first time in weeks. Between February 17-23, some 60.7 percent of those tested by the GGD received a positive diagnosis for the coronavirus. During that time, an average of 59,500 people were tested daily. The previous week, 100,500 people were tested daily, with 56.7 percent receiving the news that they were infected with the virus.
The three cities with the most new infections in the latest round of data were Amsterdam (1,529), Utrecht (829), and The Hague (782). While the capital's total was about average, Utrecht posted a figure 15 percent below average, and The Hague's tally was 10 percent below its mean.