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Pressure on hospitals But there was relief among hospital staff, who learned with dismay last week that the government was trying to ease restrictions while nearly three-quarters of intensive care beds are occupied by patients with the coronavirus. Another 8,288 infections were reported on Sunday, the highest daily number in two weeks, while more than 2,500 people are being treated in hospital for the virus, 788 of them in intensive care. Ad Melkert, chairman of the board of the Dutch hospital association NVZ, said, "This comes hard on people who had hoped or counted on restrictions being eased. But they are still badly needed, because we need all the help we can get in our hospitals. First we need to get the virus under control, get more people vaccinated and reduce the pressure on the hospitals. Then we can slowly but surely get back to normal, but I think that will take a few more weeks."