Coronavirus figures stagnant, concern over hospitals in autumn

More than 60% of the population is fully vaccinated. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Coronavirus cases and hospital admissions were virtually unchanged in the last week of August, with positive tests rising by 2% in the past week.

Another 17,575 cases were reported by the public health agency RIVM in its latest weekly bulletin on Tuesday, up from 17,315. The figure equates to 102 cases per 100,000 people.

The positive test rate dropped from 13.7% to 13.1% as the number of tests carried out by the local health board network (GGD) increased by 11.7% to 124,361. The reproductive number R was unchanged at 1.01.

Another 415 patients were admitted to hospital in the last seven days, compared to 426 the week before, while the number of people admitted to intensive care was unchanged at 97.

Figures for Tuesday showed the number of people in hospital had declined by 18 to 671, while 210 people are in intensive care, eight fewer than on Monday.

Ernst Kuipers, head of the national co-ordination centre for patient distribution (LCPS), said on Tuesday he expected 3,500 people to end up in intensive care with coronavirus infections during the autumn – 500 more than last year.

He said the more infectious Delta variant was the reason more people were in intensive care even though more than 60% of the population is now fully vaccinated. A vaccination rate of 90% would be needed to bring Delta under control. ‘We’re not there yet and we’re not going to make it,’ he said.