Coronavirus average near 6-week low; Hospitalizations tick up

Some 28,904 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus between Sunday and Monday morning. It was the first time infections were below 30,000 for two straight days since January 10-11. It brought the seven-day moving average down to 34,901, the lowest it has been in six weeks. The average fell 26 percent this past week.

At the same time, the positivity rate continued to tick up. Some 62 percent of the people tested by the GGD from February 20-26 received a positive diagnosis for the infection, compared to 58 percent the week before. The number of people tested fell to 54,250, near the lowest point this year.

The latest round of data showed that Amsterdam (1,373), Utrecht (730), and Groningen (720) were the three cities with the most infections diagnosed in the daily report. Both Amsterdam and Groningen were about 10 percent below average, while Utrecht's tally was about one-fourth below average.

Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 1,470 people with Covid-19 on Monday afternoon, 111 more than a day earlier after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths. The total was 9 percent lower compared to a week ago. A similar decrease would bring the total down to 1,350.

The current total includes 162 patients in intensive care, a net decrease of seven. That remained near the lowest point in 19 weeks. The other 1,308 patients were in regular care wards, a net increase of 118, the largest increase there in three weeks.

Hospitals admitted 117 new patients with the disease in the past 24 hours. That includes 10 people sent directly to intensive care. On average, hospitals admitted 153 Covid-19 patients each of the past seven days, down 19 percent in a week. That was the lowest number of weekly admissions in a month.