A member of medical staff takes coronavirus test samples during drive-thru coronavirus COVID-19 disease testing on a converted ice rink in Alkmaar, the Netherlands on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. (Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw photo)
AMSTERDAM--The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands increased by 1,213 on Thursday to 21,762, health authorities said, with 148 new deaths.
The country’s death toll stands at 2,396, the Netherlands’ Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM said in its daily update.
The RIVM repeated that the real numbers are higher, as not all cases or deaths in the country are confirmed by testing.
In total, 1,356 people are now being treated in intensive-care (IC) wards in the Netherlands and a further 52 are in hospital in Germany, according to Wednesday’s figures from the national coordination centre. In addition, 375 non-corona patients are also being treated in IC beds.
The pressure on intensive care wards remains “very high,” centre director Ernst Kuipers told a press conference, adding that the total number of patients is twice as high as normal.
“We would appear to be stabilising,” Kuipers said. However, there could be no talk of relaxing the current strict rules on social distancing until the number of corona patients in IC wards had dropped below 1,000, he said. This, Kuipers said, will not happen within the next two weeks.
The government has extended the “intelligent lockdown” until April 28 but has pledged to inform if the measures should be extended on April 21. Earlier figures show the average stay of a corona patient in an IC ward is 23 days.
