The Netherlands has started transporting Covid-19 patients across the border to Germany to ease pressure on Dutch hospitals struggling to deal with a surge in coronavirus cases.
A patient was transferred by ambulance from Rotterdam to a hospital in Bochum, some 240km east this morning and another would follow later in the day, health authorities said.
The number of Covid-19 patients in Dutch hospitals has risen to its highest level since May in recent weeks and is expected to increase further as infections jump to record levels.
German hospitals in total have offered 20 beds for patients from the Netherlands, after treating dozens during previous waves of the pandemic.