Countries in Europe scrambling for hospital beds as 2nd wave of COVID-19 rolls in

Photo: MTI/AP/Jevhen Maloletka

Setting up field hospitals, installing ICU beds, even purchasing more beds, countries in Europe are scrambling for hospital beds as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic rolls in with vengeance.

SURGING INFECTIONS

On Thursday, the Netherlands reported 7,833 new single-day cases of COVID-19, a new high over the 7,296 cases confirmed in the previous 24 hours.

In neighboring Belgium, authorities confirmed a daily average of 5,421 new coronavirus cases in the last seven days (Oct. 5 to Oct. 11), a 101-percent increase from the previous week.

On Wednesday, 1,777 hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, compared to 1,050 on Oct. 7 — an increase of 69 percent.

In Italy, an epicenter in Europe during the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic, saw a new record of 8,804 daily infections on Thursday, up from 7,332 the previous day. Both grim figures overtook the previous high of 6,554 recorded on March 21, sparking fears that the second wave of the global outbreak would surpass the darkest days of the first, at least in terms of the infection rate.

France, one of the “big five” hit hardest in Europe during the first wave, reported on Thursday its biggest daily infections with coronavirus, as 30,621 people have tested positive in the past 24 hours.

Even Ireland witnessed late Wednesday 1,095 confirmed new cases, its highest ever recorded in a single day since the outbreak of the pandemic.

At a virtual press conference on Thursday, WHO (World Health Organization) Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge confirmed that the number of cases in Europe had surpassed seven million, with almost 700,000 new infections reported in the past week alone — the highest weekly incidence of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.

“The number of positive cases rose from six to seven million in just 10 days and over the weekend new records were reached with daily totals surpassing 120,000 cases for the first time,” he said.

Presenting troubling figures on the evolving epidemiological situation in Europe, Kluge said COVID-19 is now the “fifth leading cause of deaths and the bar of 1,000 deaths per day has now been reached.”

MORE BEDS NEEDED

The soaring infections have caught some countries unawares.

The Czech Republic, which reported on Wednesday 9,544 new COVID-19 cases, its biggest daily count ever and one of the highest COVID-19 spikes in Europe, will start putting together emergency field hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the state would purchase 3,000 regular hospital beds and another 1,000 critical care beds from nursing bed maker LINET.

“We don’t have time, the outlook is not good. These numbers are catastrophic,” Babis said.

Biochemist Jan Konvalinka warned that people who catch the virus this week may not find a hospital bed should they need it and that existing models put the country’s hospitals at full capacity by the end of October.

In Romania, where 4,013 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, Health Minister Nelu Tataru said all hospitals across the country must reserve 10 percent of intensive care units and 15 percent of beds from general wards for COVID-19 patients.

Until now, COVID-19 patients in the country have only been treated in designated hospitals, which have been almost overwhelmed, especially in areas with severe outbreaks. The situation in intensive care units (ICUs) is even more serious, as the number of critically-ill patients hit new high of 721 on Thursday.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday that 46 percent of ICUs in Paris are occupied by COVID-19 patients, as the country is struggling to contain a worrying resurgence of the coronavirus.

The number of people in hospital for the COVID-19 surged by 411 to 9,605, including 1,750 in intensive care units.

“Earlier, the right answer would have been installing additional resuscitation beds, but that is no more the case. No system would be able to meet the needs of such an epidemic if we did not do anything upstream. (…) It is necessary to train personnel, but that is impossible to do in a few months. The only solution is to put a brake (on the spread of virus),” he said.

CURFEWS AND PARTIAL LOCKDOWNS

French President Emmanuel Macron has declared curfews between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in the Greater Paris region and eight major cities starting from midnight Friday and will remain in force at least for four weeks.

In Spain, the Catalan government in the northeastern region has decided to close all bars and restaurants for 15 days starting Friday, after the regional health department recorded on Wednesday an incidence of 290 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest level since April.

This is the first time one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities has decided to take such an action since the central government ended the nationwide State of Alarm in June.

Meanwhile, seven of Slovenia’s 12 statistical regions will be all but locked down as of Friday in a bid to contain the exponential growth in coronavirus cases.

People from the seven red-coded regions, where the 14-day rolling average has exceeded 140 per 100,000 residents, will be banned from travelling to other regions, except for commuting to work. Face masks will also be mandatory outdoors in red regions, except for children up to the age of six and primary school pupils up to year five.

Citing projections provided by epidemiological models, WHO Regional Director for Europe Kluge said simple measures — such as mask wearing at a rate of 95 percent from now, instead of the less than 60 percent today, together with the strict control of social gatherings — may save up to 281,000 lives by Feb. 1 across WHO Europe’s 53 member states.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreaks in early 2020, wearing masks in public has been widely accepted in Asian countries like China, South Korea, and Japan to limit the spread of COVID-19.