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On Monday, work began on installing the first
88 of a possible 680 hospital beds in the halls of Ahoy,
normally used for big concerts, trade fairs and international
sports events.
Instead of its usual crowd of pop music and sports fans, Ahoy
will open its doors from mid-April to people suffering from the
coronavirus or other illnesses who need care but do not have to
be admitted to a hospital.
This should help alleviate the pressure on hospitals in the
Netherlands, where the number of coronavirus infections has
risen rapidly since the first case was reported on Feb. 27.
As of Monday, there were 11,750 confirmed coronavirus infections
in the country, with 864 deaths.
The Dutch National Institute for Public Health said on Sunday
that intensive care units in Dutch hospitals could reach peak
capacity in the coming two weeks at the current rate of
infections.
To keep hospitals from overflowing, emergency wards for
coronavirus and other patients are also being installed in
hotels across the country of 17 million people.
Only last month, Ahoy drew more than 100,000 spectators to the
ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament and in recent months has hosted
concerts by international stars such as Pink and 50 Cents.
However, Ahoy saw its most anticipated event of the year
scrapped two weeks ago, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the
Eurovision song contest organizers to cancel an event that would
have drawn tens of thousands of spectators in mid-May.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew
Heavens)
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