Hospital bosses have told Trouw that they believe the coronavirus will be with us for some time, requiring more intensive care beds.

Six of seven hospitals surveyed by the paper said that rolling up more beds on a flexible basis was not enough and that more ‘structural capacity’ was necessary.

At Amsterdam’s UMC, head of the intensive care unit Armand Girbes said that its ‘relatively restricted capacity’ would not be enough now that a new illness is in circulation and likely to remain. ‘There is more capacity needed,’ he reportedly said.

At the Elisabeth-TweeSteden Ziekenhuis in Tilburg and Waalwijk, bosses are aiming to increase the number of intensive care beds by 10% to 15%, and nurses are already being trained to work there.

However, experts have already predicted potential problems with a national shortage in trained intensive care stuff if the coronavirus flares again this winter.