For the first time since Covid-19 reached the Netherlands in February 2020, not a single corona patient is in intensive care. Last 24 hours, the last two patients who suffered from the corona virus left the IC. The National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution (LCPS) reports this on Friday afternoon.
It is not clear whether the last two IC patients were discharged, transferred to another department or died. What is certain is that it is the first time that not a single corona patient is in the more than nine hundred IC beds. On February 27, 2020, it was announced that the first infection had reached the Netherlands. The then Minister of Medical Care Bruno Bruins (VVD) announced this in a live TV broadcast, after receiving a note with that information. In a short time, intensive care units filled up after this.
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Endemic stage
Of course, none of that means that Covid-19 has disappeared – it doesn’t anymore. Since February this year, the disease has entered the ‘endemic phase’. “Almost everyone has built up an immune system by now, through vaccination or an infection,” the GGD writes. “The virus is still circulating, but few people become seriously ill.” This also canceled the latest advice regarding the coronavirus, such as testing in case of complaints and isolating in case of a positive test result.
Of course, some people can still become seriously ill from a corona infection, such as the two people who were still in the ICU until yesterday. Earlier this week, RIVM reported that after a quiet summer, the number of corona infections is rising again. In sewage samples the highest number of virus particles was found since mid-May. “What we have seen in the last month is an increase, but the level is still very low,” said Susan van den Hof, head of the RIVM’s Center for Epidemiology and Surveillance of Infectious Diseases. According to the corona dashboard, the average number of virus particles per 100,000 inhabitants is now 368, while it was above 2,500 at peak times in the pandemic.
However, a new subvariant of the virus is emerging, called EG.5. There is no evidence that people who contract this variant become sicker than they were from previous versions. However, EG.5 can circumvent people’s defenses a little better, because it is a new variant. There are currently 73 corona patients in the nursing ward of the hospital.