Covid hospital total jumps 12 percent, but ICU figures dip; Infections fall 11 percent

There were 1,125 patients in Dutch hospitals with Covid-19, patient coordinator LCPS said on Tuesday. The patient total has jumped by nearly 12 percent in a week, but the number of patients in intensive care saw a slight decrease. Additionally, coronavirus infections fell by nearly 11 percent, the first weekly decrease since the end of May.

Hospitals were treating 1,081 Covid-19 patients in regular care wards, 73 more than last Tuesday. At the same time, there were 44 patients in intensive care units. That figure fell by three in a week.

An average of 146 Covid-19 patients were admitted each of the past seven days, including six sent directly to intensive care. A week ago, hospitals admitted an average of 132 patients per day, including four people directly placed in an ICU. Figures from the LCPS include all patients hospitalized with Covid-19, regardless of the severity of their symptoms or the reason why they were initially hospitalized. Figures from the RIVM show that 721 people with the disease entered hospital care for treatment of Covid-19 during the last calendar week. That was up by almost 29 percent from the previous calendar week. However, the RIVM showed a drop in ICU admissions from 43 to 40.

After six straight weeks where the number of coronavirus infections increased, there was a decrease recorded during the past seven days. A total of 38,470 people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 during the weeklong period that ended on Tuesday morning. That was down from 43,220 the previous week.

School holidays officially began in the central portion of the Netherlands after classroom doors closed on July 8. Holidays started in the northern portion of the country a week later. That could explain part of the decrease in diagnosed infections, with 6 percent fewer individuals having visited a coronavirus test center operated by the GGD during the past calendar week, which ended July 17. The GGD completed nearly 50,000 coronavirus tests during that seven-day period.

Even still, the RIVM predicted the possibility that the latest wave of infections was nearing a peak earlier this month. The flattening out was further elaborated in sewage surveillance, where the SARS-CoV-2 viral load in sewer water dipped by 2.8 percent during the first full week of July. However that figure started to increase again a few days later. "In both weeks, sewage figures were again highest in the metropolitan area, especially in Amsterdam and the wider surrounding area," the RIVM stated.

Along with the initial drop in viral load, the basic reproduction (R) value also fell to 0.99. Fewer infections are expected to be diagnosed when the figure falls further below 1.00. With the R-value at 0.99, it indicates that 100 people contagious with the coronavirus on July 4 infected 99 others. They then passed the virus on to 98 people, who in turn gave the virus to another 97 individuals.

The Omicron BA.5 sub-variant remained the most dominant of all variants of the virus. "The BA.4 variant was again found to a much lesser extent, and the BA.2.12.1 variant seems to be gradually disappearing." The relatively new BA.2.75 sub-variant was also observed. It is more commonly known as the Centaurus variant of the virus. Like other descendants of Omicron, this version of the coronavirus also seems to have the ability to evade the body's ability to prevent symptoms of Covid-19 from becoming more serious.

A little over 5,000 people tested positive just since Monday morning, far below the 7,300 who tested positive during the same period a week earlier. The four biggest cities had the most infections during the recent single-day period: Amsterdam (281), Rotterdam (166), The Hague (109), and Utrecht (108).

The RIVM also said it learned of 30 deaths caused by Covid-19, up from 17 reported a week ago. There is no obligation to report such deaths to the RIVM in a timely fashion.