First decrease in Covid-19 hospital patients since Sept. 2; Infections up 33%

For the first time in over four weeks there was a fall in the number of Covid-19 patients being treated in Dutch hospitals. There were 691 patients in total on Thursday, ten fewer than Wednesday.

Patient coordination office LCPS said that 152 of the patients were in intensive care, an increase of two. The Dutch intensive care units have not seen a decline in Covid-19 patients in two weeks. Outside of the ICU system, there were 539 more patients with the coronavirus disease, a decrease of 12.

To put the amount of patients into perspective, acute care leader Ernst Kuipers said on Wednesday that 700 patients would fill roughly all in-patient beds at two large regional hospitals.

At the same time, 47 more patients were hospitalized with the coronavirus disease, according to preliminary data released on Thursday by public health agency RIVM. Thirteen others also died as a result of Covid-19, raising the Dutch death toll to an estimated 6,419.

The data showed that 3,263 more people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, a slight decrease from Wednesday's record. It brought this week's total number of positive test results up to 12,490, a 33-percent increase compared to last week.

The Thursday tally was also 28 percent higher than the single-day total a week earlier. Amsterdam (344), Rotterdam (277) and The Hague (227) were the three cities with the most infections registered on Thursday, the same as last week.

Amsterdam infections jumped by 37 percent, while the number of positive tests in Rotterdam rose by 12 percent. In The Hague, that figure shot up by 67 percent.