Another NL hospital closes ICU unit as Covid-19 diagnoses continue to rise

The Rode Kruis Hospital (RKZ) in Beverwijk stopped admitting new patients to its intensive care unit on Tuesday, because one of its patients may have the new strain of the coronavirus. A resident of the municipality of Haarlem also tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, NU.nl reports.

The RKZ patient's first test for Covid-19 came back positive. The hospital is still waiting for the results of the second, definitive test. The patient in question was admitted to the hospital on Friday and is still there. When the patient was admitted, there was still no reason to test them for the coronavirus, the hospital said. But as the patient's symptoms progressed, the hospital decided to test them on Monday.

The other patients on the ICU and their family members were informed of the situation. The hospital stopped admitting new patients to the unit to protect hospital employees and vulnerable patients against the virus, the hospital said. Patient care continues as usual and the Burns Center is still open, the hospital stressed.

The RKZ is not the first hospital to stop admitting new patients due to concerns over the coronavirus. The Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam is also not admitting new patients to its ICU, and the Beatrix Hospital in Gorinchem is not admitting any new patients at all.

The Haarlem resident likely contracted the virus while visiting another confirmed Covid-19 patient in the Netherlands, municipal health service GGD in the Kennemerland region said to the newspaper. The GGD is monitoring the health of the new patient's family and is investigating who they had contact with.

That brings the total number of Covid-19 cases up to 20 or 21, depending on whether the diagnosis for the Beverwijk hospital patient is confirmed. A total of ten people were diagnosed with the virus late last week and over the weekend. On Monday the number of diagnoses jumped to 18. And later on Monday it was confirmed that a 5-year-old from Alphen aan den Rijn was also diagnosed, according to NOS.

Most of the Covid-19 patients in the Netherlands visited a region with a virus outbreak, or had contact with someone who visited such a region. For only three patients, the source of infection is unclear.