Omicron mutation ‘gallops’ in the Netherlands – ICU beds run out

LAST UPDATE 18:36

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been spreading in the Netherlands since it arrived there 11 days ago, the ANP news agency reported, citing the country’s National Institute of Public Health (RIVM).

The variant was first spotted in the Netherlands on November 19, before two flights arrived there from South Africa last week, whose passengers were carrying it, RIVM reported earlier.

At least 14 people on flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town who arrived at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on November 26 carried the virus, it has been reported.

The beds in the ICU are exhausted

The Dutch health system is rushing to add beds to intensive care units for patients with Covid-19, at a time when the country recorded a record weekly number of new cases today.

Although hospitals remain under suffocating pressure, due to routine surgery and care services, the weekly infection rate, recorded by the country’s National Institutes of Health (RIVM), appears to be showing signs of stabilizing as it has risen. just 1% compared to last week, at 155,152.

In all, there are less than 100 ICU beds available today in the Netherlands, with 595 occupied by Covid-19 patients and another 500 by patients with other diseases.

With ICU admissions reaching more than 40 a day last week, hospitals are trying to restore the maximum capacity of the 1,350 ICU beds they managed to acquire during the first Covid-19 wave in April 2020.

One third of hospitals in the country have stopped offering pre-scheduled care services and almost a third say they can not always perform even critical, pre-scheduled surgeries, the Dutch announced today. Health Authority (NZa), including surgery for cancer patients or heart patients.

Source: AMPE