Amsterdam UMC closes one of its Covid wards as hospital admissions drop

The Amsterdam University Medical Center has closed one of its three Covid-19 hospital wards due to the declining number of patients requiring intensive care treatment, local broadcaster AT5 reported. According to the hospital, there are now 24 patients being treated for Covid-19, the lowest point since the first wave of the crisis in 2020.

"It's great news," said Susanne Heijmenberg, the head nurse at the hospital’s intensive care unit. She told AT5, "This week we were able to close one of the three units where the Covid-19 patients are treated. The day we long hoped would come."

The number of patients admitted with Covid-19 has been declining for several weeks now. Additionally, the average age of ICU patients is also decreasing, largely due to the vast majority of elderly people already being vaccinated against the disease. "I already believed in vaccination, but I am witnessing it now too," said Heijmenberg.

Nonprofit ICU monitor NICE previously stated about 26% of all Covid-19 patients currently in hospitals were now between 50 and 59 years of age, making it the age group most represented. In March and April, the largest group still consisted of people in their seventies.

Heijmenberg noted that the pressure on the medical system still remained high, despite the decreasing number of Covid-19 admissions. She explained that due to the ongoing crisis, regular care had to be scaled down, and that gap is now slowly starting to get closed.

"But it is not only plannable care that is increasing again. Now that the world is opening up again, people are also taking to the streets more. This is causing more traffic accidents, for example," she said.