NL – The number of new coronavirus infections in the Netherlands shot back up by 26 percent after a brief lull attributed to lower testing volumes over the Christmas holidays. Some 9,504 more people tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, almost equal to the seven-day moving average.

The sharp jump in infections was likely to cause more concern with the staffs up hospital intensive care units, which were treating more than seven hundred Covid-19 patients for the first time since May 2. The ICU total has risen steadily since September, with the exception of a brief dip during the latter half of November.

Over the past three days alone, intensive care units have taken on 190 more patients with the coronavirus disease, including 64 during the 24 hours ending at about 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Regular care departments admitted 289 more new Covid-19 patients since Tuesday, and nearly a thousand in total over the past three days.

There were 2,704 patients with the disease in Dutch hospitals on Wednesday, down 47 in a day. That was only the second decrease recorded in three weeks. The ICU total rose by a net increase of 28 to 702, while the regular care units showed a net decrease of 75 to 2,002, after accounting for deaths and discharges.

The RIVM also acknowledged that 112 more people died from Covid-19, raising the seven-day average to 84. A total of 11,324 people in the Netherlands are known to have died as a result of the disease.

So far this week, 24,518 people have been diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, a 23 percent decrease versus last week. The three cities with the most new infections reported on Wednesday were Amsterdam (380), Rotterdam (234) and The Hague (223).

To date, 787,300 people in the Netherlands have tested positive for the infection. About 31,200 of them required treatment in a hospital