Dutch coronavirus average shoots up 29% in a week; Hospitalizations start rising

For the second day in a row, well over 65,000 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The RIVM said it learned of 67,229 positive tests between Friday and Saturday morning. That pushed the seven-day moving average up substantially to 47,893, based solely on raw data. The average rose by 29 percent since last Saturday.

The Netherlands eliminated nearly all of its remaining coronavirus restrictions one week ago. In announcing plans return society to a more normal way of life, the Cabinet warned that an increase in infections was to be expected.

About 68.2 percent of those tested by the GGD during the seven-day period from Feb. 25 to Mar. 3 received the positive diagnosis for the coronavirus infection. That set a new record, with over 70 percent of those tested on Thursday learning they were infected.

During that time, about 65,000 people were tested daily, up from 57,000 the previous week. That 14 percent increase was the first rise in testing figures since the end of January. 

Amsterdam led all cities with 2,207 new infections. That figure was just slightly above its average. Another 2,098 people in Utrecht tested positive, the most there in nearly four weeks. That pushed Utrecht’s average up to 1,257. Groningen came in second with 1,430 infections, well above its average of 1,063. In Eindhoven, the average has soared 78 percent in a week, reaching 884, with 1,740 people testing positive there in the latest data.

Covid-19 ICU total rises 7 percent

For the fifth straight day, hospitals admitted an above average number of new Covid-19 patients. A total of 181 patients with the disease were admitted in the past 24 hours, including 12 sent to intensive care. On average, hospitals admitted 155 patients each of the past seven days, down 5 percent in a week.

Intensive care units in the Netherlands were treating 157 patients with Covid-19, an increase of ten since Friday afternoon. That figure has held between 145 and 200 for more than three weeks, and has fluctuated above and below 160 for about a week. Another 1,201 patients were in regular care wards, a net decrease of 43.

That put the Covid-19 patient total at 1,358 on Saturday afternoon, down 33 in a day after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths. The patient total has fallen by about 3 percent in a week, which could be flattening out after consistently declining since mid-February