Despite a relatively small increase in the number of Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care over the weekend, it is still too early for optimism, Diederik Gommers, chairman for the association for intensive care NVIC, said on television show Op1. "Only when there is more outflow than inflow will I start to be satisfied," he said.

As of 7:15 a.m. on Monday, a total of 1,248 people with coronavirus symptoms were being treated in ICUs in 73 hospitals across the Netherlands, according to figures from foundation NICE. That is a decrease of 7 patients compared to Sunday. Since the pandemic hit the Netherlands late in February, ICUs treated a total of 1,848 Covid-19 patients. 227 of them died. Others recovered enough to be discharged.

Between Saturday and Sunday, the number of coronavirus patients in ICU increased by 18, and between Friday and Saturday by 42.

According to Gommers, the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care is expected to climb to around 2 thousand in the next two weeks. "That is already too much. There is more and more strain on the staff and they have to keep it up for longer. That is very stressful."

He called it extremely important that people in the Netherlands adhere to social distancing measures, for the doctors and nurses working in intensive care.