Covid patient total rises for 7th day straight, nearing a 10-week high
Dutch hospitals saw an increase in the Covid-19 patient total for the seventh day in a row, a trend which followed closely with the Cabinet’s decision to release nearly all coronavirus measures in the Netherlands on February 25. The figure hit its highest point since January 4, with regular care departments treating the largest number of patients with the disease since Christmas Eve. At the same time, the intensive care figures remained near a five-month low.
There were 1,682 hospital patients with the coronavirus disease on Saturday afternoon, an increase of 19 after accounting for new admissions, discharges, and deaths. The figure has jumped by 24 percent in a week, the largest weekly gain since the end of November about a month in to the first wave of the Omicron variant. A similar increase would put the total at over 2,100.
The regular care wards were treating 1,528 people, a net increase of 25. The intensive care units were treating the remaining 154, a net decrease of six. The ICU total rose only twice during the past seven days, and has remained below 200 for over a month.
New Covid-19 patient admissions reached the highest point since December 14, as 266 people with the coronavirus disease were admitted into care between Friday and Saturday afternoon. On average, hospitals admitted 219 people each of the past seven days, a 42 percent increase in a week. The last time that figure rose so sharply was during the end of October and beginning of November.
A total of 60,083 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus between Friday and Saturday morning, the lowest daily total since March 3. That brought the seven-day moving average down for the first time in 11 days. The average stood at 67,910, up 42 percent compared to a week earlier, according to raw data from the RIVM.
About 67.7 percent of the people tested by the GGD between March 4-10 received a positive diagnosis, a figure which has been trending for a few days, but remained slightly higher than a week ago. Nearly 98,300 people were tested daily during the recent period, compared to 64,900 the previous week.
The three cities with the most new infections were Amsterdam (2,333), Utrecht (1,394), and Rotterdam (1,269). All three posted daily totals between 100-200 below average.