Covid-19 seven-day average up 17 percent for the week; hospitalizations total also rises

While cases dropped slightly on Sunday, the seven-day average keeps increasing little by little. The Dutch public health agency RIVM reported another 4,729 cases on Sunday. In the past week, a total of 32,404 people tested positive for the virus. This is a 17 percent increase compared to the same period last week.

Sunday's single-day tally was a five percent rise compared to Saturday and remained the same compared to last week. The seven-day rolling average is now at 4,629, a 17 percent increase compared to the previous week and the highest since the end of January. Although the average infection total has risen for two straight weeks, the average number of new daily infections in February went down by nearly a third compared to January.

The three cities with the highest number of infections were Amsterdam (245), Rotterdam (187), and Hoorn (133). In the capital, infections decreased by 21 percent compared to last week. However, in Rotterdam, Sunday's infections represent a 46 percent increase versus to the previous week. In Hoorn, cases increased by 90 percent in one week.

Meanwhile, the total number of hospitalizations also started to rise again. On Sunday, the national patient coordination center LCPS reported a total of 1,848 patients being treated for Covid-19. This was a net increase of 39 patients compared to the previous day. Among the patients, 1,322 are stationed in regular care units, 31 more than on Saturday. The other 526 patients are currently in intensive care, an increase of eight patients compared to the previous day.

However, the total number of hospitalized patients remained stagnant compared to the previous week. Following this trajectory, we can expect the number of Covid-19 patients to stay around 1,850 this time next week.

In the 24-hour period leading up to Saturday afternoon, hospitals admitted 181 new patients. Among them, 160 were added to regular care units. Another 21 patients were moved to IC units.

Another 21 deaths were also reported as being caused by Covid-19, the RIVM said. That brought the seven-day average to 50. Fatal cases of the coronavirus disease went down by 14 percent for the week, the RIVM data showed.

An estimate from the RIVM also showed that 1,319,008 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered since the beginning of the inoculation process. That was an additional 33,266 shots in one day. In the past seven days, 331,573 vaccines were placed.

Since the first case was detected in February 2020, 1,088,690 people have tested positive for the viral infection. So far, 15,563 people in the Netherlands have died from the disease