‘Only relax with 20 percent fewer hospital admissions’ • Corona mortality in January highest since May

The Outbreak Management Team (OMT) advises the government not to resume alleviation until the number of corona patients admitted has fallen by 20 percent in a “running 7-day average”. These are admissions to intensive care units and ordinary hospital wards.

There is no question of such a decrease yet, the OMT writes in a new advice to the cabinet. However, the OMT thinks that the peak in hospital admissions has been reached and “the chance of a further increase has decreased”, Minister De Jonge writes in an accompanying letter.

For the first step of the opening plan, the OMT had advised that the number of new admissions should have decreased by at least 10 percent, viewed on average over a week. Although the first easing took effect last week, this decrease has still not been realized, the OMT concludes. At the earliest, the second round of easing would be instituted on 11 May, but it is still too early for that now.

Last weekend it became clear that the cabinet will wait at least a week longer with the second phase of relaxation. Due to the high burden on healthcare and the “current uncertain epidemiological picture”, further relaxation is “not yet justified”, according to De Jonge.

The OMT also advises to wait with the Fieldlab experiments until the second step can be taken. As soon as possible, the strict rules that now apply to the experiments must be maintained. For example, participants must wear a mouth mask when they move around.

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