Dutch Covid hospitalizations rise sharply; Coronavirus average up for 22nd straight day

The number of people being treated in Dutch hospitals for Covid-19 rose for the 17th straight day on Monday. The figure increased by more than five percent for the fifth time in eight days, reaching 796. Raw data also showed the average number of daily coronavirus infections was approaching 5,300 after increasing every day for more than three weeks.

Intensive care units in the Netherlands were treating 199 people for the coronavirus disease, a figure which last hit 200 on September 21. The ICU total was higher by 14 compared to Sunday afternoon, after accounting for new patient admissions, discharges, and deaths. The regular care wards had another 597 patients with Covid-19 in treatment on Monday, a net increase of 34.

The combined hospital total rose by six percent in a day, and was 30 percent higher than last Monday. A similar 30 percent rise would bring the hospital total up to over 1,040 by next Monday, a day before the Dutch Cabinet is expected to decide if it will implement new coronavirus restrictions in the Netherlands.

At the top of the government's concerns is the growing number of hospitalizations related to the disease. The LCPS said that 108 people with Covid-19 were admitted to a hospital during the previous 24 hours, including 18 sent to intensive care. Hospitals took on 759 people with the disease during the past seven days, a 57 percent increase compared to the previous week. The most recent seven-day period included 129 patients sent to intensive care, up from 87 during the previous period.

The latest round of raw data from the RIVM also showed that 5,331 people were diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection between Sunday and Monday morning. It was the fifth straight day where the figure topped five thousand, even as the number of new known positive tests are often lower on Sundays and Mondays.

That caused the seven-day moving average to rise for the 22nd consecutive day, to hit 5,298 on Monday. The figure, based solely on raw data, is 54 percent higher than last Monday. A combination of raw and corrected data put the figure at 5,272, the highest since July 27. The corrected figure has increased 25 days in a row.

The three cities with the most new infections were Amsterdam (235), Rotterdam (205), and The Hague (148). Amsterdam's seven-day average of 227 has gone up by 71 percent in a week. The respective averages in Rotterdam (155) and The Hague (122) were both about 15 percent higher.

The RIVM has recorded 2,087,859 positive coronavirus tests since the start of the pandemic.