Covid-19 patients in ICU falls again; "Stable decline" says acute care boss

New figures from Dutch patient coordinator LCPS showed that intensive care patients being treated for Covid-19 fell for the third straight day to 1,303 patients. The fall in patients, 35 in total, was the sixth day out of the previous eight where a decline was reported.

"We are now seeing a stable decline, which is a favorable development," said Ernst Kuipers. He is the chairperson for the country's acute care network LNAZ. It could still take up to eight weeks for intensive care units to return to a normal level, Kuipers said.

There were 1,248 patients from the Netherlands were being treated in the country's ICU facilities. Another 55 were being treated in German hospitals.

The transfer of Dutch Covid-19 patients to ICUs in German hospitals has largely come to a stop, Diederik Gommers of intensive care association NVIC said in a letter to all ICU doctors on Wednesday, NOS reports. Once the Netherlands had enough available beds to handle all coronavirus patients who need intensive care, it was decided to "minimize" transfers to Germany, Gommers said.

"And to use this option only for the greatest need." He added that he is extremely grateful for the help Germany provided.

Gommers stressed that pressure on the Dutch ICUs remains high. He explained that if the number of coronavirus patients in ICU drop to 1,200, that still means that one ICU nurse has to care for three patients, instead of the usual two.

"Only when we have scaled down to about 700 IC patients (+500 non-Covid patients) will we be able to work in the IC again according to our own quality standards."