Covid-19 patients in ICU down 24 percent this week; EU wants Dutch to team up on vaccine supply

Covid-19 patients in intensive care fell to 73 on Friday, four fewer than the previous day. Over the past week, the number of patients went down by about 24 percent, and in the past month it dropped by over 83 percent, according to data from patient coordination office LCPS.

Outside of intensive care, hospitals were still treating 279 patients for the coronavirus disease. That is down 54 compared to Wednesday. "Clinical occupancy in particular is falling rapidly. This is partly due to patients who were previously in ICU and have now recovered enough to leave the hospital," said Ernst Kuipers, the chair of the Dutch acute care providers network.

To date, ICUs treated 2,905 residents for Covid-19, of which 842 have died, and 1,576 were treated and discharged. There was also an increase in patients without Covid-19 in intensive care, which totaled 630 on Friday.

Vaccine purchasing power

Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health, said she received support from European Union governments to negotiate deals to purchase coronavirus vaccines in bulk for the EU. The fund was valued at 2.4 billion euros, and could be used to purchase up to a half-dozen different vaccines for the 446 million people who live in the 27 member states.

Kyriakides made the announcement at a press conference. There she suggested the four-country alliance of the Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy call off their efforts to also negotiate similar deals.

"Both tracks should converge for the benefits of all 27. This is about working together and not in competition," Kyriakides said, according to Reuters.

European Commission deals could include purchasing vaccines which show early promise, but fail in clinical trials.