Coronavirus ICU admissions climb to 1,198

As of 8:00 a.m. on Friday, a total of 1,198 people were being treated for coronavirus Covid-19 in intensive care units at hospitals across the Netherlands, according to figures released by foundation NICE. 74 Dutch hospitals have at least one coronavirus patient in their ICU.

A total of 1,629 Covid-19 patients have been treated in ICUs since the outbreak started in the Netherlands at the end of February. 214 of them died. Others recovered and were discharged from the intensive care.

Hospitals across the Netherlands are currently working to increase the number of ICU beds to 2,400, up from 1,150 under normal circumstances. 2,400 beds in intensive care is really the maximum that can be done, according to both Diederik Gommers of intensive care association NVIC and Gerton Heyne of nurses' association V&VN.

It is possible to buy more ventilators and other equipment needed for intensive care, though the worldwide demand for these devices skyrocketed due to the Covid-19 outbreak over the past months. But the number of nurses trained to care for patients in intensive care are at their limit. Caring for 2,400 intensive care patients for 24 hours a day would normally require 14,400 nurses, V&VN said on Thursday. The Netherlands is currently getting by with fewer than 4 thousand.

In the 12th week of this year, March 16 to 22, a total of 3,575 people died in the Netherlands, over 500 more than the same week last year, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Friday. The stats office attributes the increase entirely to the Covid-19 epidemic. According to the stats office, the increase of over 500 also indicates that there is no large number of 'hidden' coronavirus deaths - something GPs were concerned about as the Netherlands' coronavirus testing was limited.

In the 12th week the RIVM reported four coronavirus deaths on March 16, 19 deaths on March 17, 15 deaths on March 18, 18 deaths on March 19, 30 deaths on March 20, 30 deaths on March 21, and 43 deaths on March 22.