Covid hospital total rockets up to 1,920 as infections taper off
Hospitals in the Netherlands were treating 1,920 patients with Covid-19 on Monday, the highest total since December 29. The patient total jumped by 146 since Sunday afternoon, a net increase of 8 percent after accounting for new admissions, discharges and deaths. The figure was 29 percent higher than last Monday. A similar increase would put the figure near 2,500.
There were 1,769 people with the disease in regular care wards, a net rise of 147. That was the biggest increase in regular care since December 2020. The other 151 patients were in intensive care units, a net decrease of one. The ICU tally remained near the lowest point in about 21 weeks.
Dutch hospitals admitted 1,654 patients with Covid-19 in the past seven days, the most in over 12 weeks. That was 40 percent higher than the previous seven-day period. The LCPS said that 222 patients with the disease were admitted between Sunday and Monday afternoon, including 10 sent to intensive care.
The hospital total started to swell after the first week of March. Towards the end of February, the Dutch government released nearly all remaining coronavirus restrictions, which coincided with the start of the Carnival festival season. Coronavirus infections quickly began to rise sharply at the start of March, but preliminary data suggests that the increase has flattened out.
The number of coronavirus infections fell for the fourth straight day to 45,908. That brought the seven-day moving average down to 63,247, the third decline in a row. The average was about 8 percent higher compared to the previous week. The three cities with the most new infections diagnosed between Sunday and Monday morning were Amsterdam (2,047), Utrecht (1,135), and Rotterdam (1,127). All three were about 20 percent below their weekly average.
The positivity rate remained high, but has been on the decline since reaching a peak of 70 percent during the first week of March. That fell to 66.6 percent from March 6-12, according to figures from the GGD. More recently, about 92,700 people were getting tested per day, compared to 78,400 the previous week.