Dutch head of the national association of intensive care units, Diederik Gommers, has appealed for a tough lockdown, including closing schools, something the government has been keen to avoid.

He told a committee of lawmakers that the country’s hospitals are 10 days away from being so overburdened with Covid-19 patients that intensive care doctors will have to start making choices about which critically ill patients get care.

There are currently around 500 Covid-19 patients in Dutch intensive care units (ICUs), which have an overall capacity of 1,066, according to an organisation that distributes patients between hospitals. Gommers said the number of beds could be scaled up to a maximum of 1,200 to 1,250 and that around 50 Covid-19 patients are entering ICUs each day.

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