AMSTERDAM – Hospitals in the Netherlands said on Tuesday they would postpone all non-critical care in the coming weeks to deal with the rapid rise in patients with COVID-19.
Coronavirus infections in the country jumped 42 percent to 83,240 during the week through Tuesday, the National Institute of Public Health said, after a series of daily increase records.
The Dutch government earlier last week imposed a harsh five-week closure, closing all non-essential schools and shops, in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.
The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that all Dutch hospitals would postpone non-critical care for an indefinite period of time, while the number of intensive care beds available in the country would increase to 1,450.
The ministry said it had so far found two Dutch patients infected with a virulent variant of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain, which has caused much of the world to sever travel links with the UK.
One of the patients had not recently been to Britain, Health Minister Hugo de Jonge told the national news agency ANP.
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