The Netherlands has started transporting Covid-19 patients across the border to Germany to ease pressure on Dutch hospitals, which are scaling back regular care to deal with a surge in coronavirus cases.

A patient was transferred by ambulance from Rotterdam to a hospital in Bochum, some 240 kilometres east, on Tuesday morning, and another would follow later in the day, health authorities said.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Dutch hospitals has swelled to its highest level since May in recent weeks and is expected to increase further as infections jump to record levels.

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