Hospitals in Belgium have been asked to scale up to phase 2A again, meaning they have to reserve 60% of beds in their intensive care units for Covid-19 patients.
By next Tuesday (6 April), 1,200 of the 2,000 available beds in ICUs in Belgium should be kept free for coronavirus patients. An extra 15% of intensive care capacity must also be provided, meaning that hospitals have to create additional beds.
The measure comes as 98% of all intensive care beds - both Covid and non-Covid patients - are now full, reports VRT based on the letter that was sent to the hospitals across the country.
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Currently, 738 Covid patients are in intensive care, according to figures by the national health institute Sciensano, but Belgium could reach the mark of 1,000 patients in ICU by 10 April.
As of today, "all non-urgent and plannable care that uses intensive care must also be postponed," the letter stated. "Urgent and necessary interventions or necessary therapies (such as cancer treatments, dialysis) can still go ahead."
On Twitter, the CEO of the Brussels university hospital (UZ Brussel) Marc Noppen announced that the hospital was already preparing to scale up to phase 2A, as eight new Covid patients were admitted over the past 24 hours.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
