Coronavirus infections drop for third day running but hospitals still under strain

The number of positive coronavirus tests has fallen for the third day in a row to 8,306, according to the latest figures from the public health agency RIVM.

The figure has fallen by 25% from Friday’s peak of over 11,000 and is nearly 20% down on last Monday’s figure. However, the number of patients in hospital is still rising, leading speculation that the government will impose extra lockdown measures from Thursday.

On Monday 2,493 people were being treated for Covid-19, of whom 583 were in intensive care. The numbers for Sunday were 2,448 and 584 respectively.

Rotterdam had the highest concentration of infections, with 508 new cases in the last 24 hours, while there were 322 in Amsterdam and 272 in The Hague.

Rotterdam’s Maasstad hospital said a pilot scheme to discharge patients earlier and monitor them at home had been a success. A group of 45 people were treated at home using an app which monitored oxygen levels in their blood, their temperature and any symptoms that developed.

‘All patients who are stable, need two litres of oxygen or less and are digitally literate are eligible for home monitoring,’ said lung specialist Gea Helfrich.