Rutte spoke in the Dutch House of Representatives on Tuesday about the lockdown that was introduced in our northern neighbors at the end of last week. He defended himself against the criticism of the closure of non-essential shops and called on his compatriots not to give in to the temptation to cross the border to do what is no longer possible in their own country. “Don’t go shopping in Cologne or eating out in Antwerp,” Rutte said.
The governor of Antwerp and German mayors of border municipalities have already called on the Dutch to stay away in recent days. They fear that the Dutch will take the more contagious omikron variant across the border. “Don’t come down here,” said Cathy Berx. According to her, the Dutch are welcome again if it turns out not to be too bad with omikron.
In the debate in the House of Representatives, the prime minister acknowledged that the introduction of booster vaccines in the Netherlands had started too late. Although the daily number of corona infections is currently decreasing, there are major concerns within the cabinet and RIVM about the rapid advance of the omikron variant. This causes great concern not only in the Netherlands, but also for us.
OVERVIEW. This is stated in leaked advice from experts on the eve of Consultation Committee
Decline in hospitals
The number of corona patients in Dutch hospitals has fallen again last 24 hours. Currently, 2,349 COVID-19 patients occupy a hospital bed, according to the most recent figures from the National Coordination Center for Patients Spreading (LCPS). That is 62 less than Monday.
From Sunday to Monday, the number of corona patients in hospitals increased again after days of decline, but the occupation will decrease over a few weeks. There are currently 1,754 corona patients in the nursing wards, 61 less than 24 hours ago. Although 209 new corona patients were admitted to the clinics, the occupation decreased because even more people were allowed to leave the wards.
There are now 595 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units. That is one patient less than Monday. 31 new corona patients were admitted to the intensive care wards, but because more people died or were allowed to leave the wards, the occupation fell. Twenty Dutch corona patients are currently staying in the intensive care of a number of German hospitals.
Omikron
According to the chairman of the National Acute Care Network (LNAZ), Ernst Kuipers, an average of around 35 new corona patients are currently being admitted to intensive care units every day, and that number is falling further. However, the advancing omikron variant of the virus could again lead to a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals in the short term.
In order to spread the pressure on hospital care as much as possible, corona patients can be moved to another region. On Monday, seven people with Covid-19 were moved to another region. One corona patient was also brought to Germany.
– .
