“The crisis unit launched the hospitals’ phase three yesterday afternoon,” confirmed Jean-Claude Schmit, Luxembourg’s chief medical officer. This means that they can begin rescheduling procedures not linked to covid-19.

The emergency plan for hospital has four phases. At low virus numbers, patients are hospitalised exclusively at CHL. When virus cases there reach 20 people in regular care and four in intensive care other hospitals begin admitting coronavirus patients to their wards.

In the fourth phase, hospital beds need to be stocked up to reach 264 patients in regular care and a maximum of 100 patients in intensive care. As of Tuesday, there were 114 people being treated for coronavirus at a hospital, including 16 patients in intensive care. During the peak in April, 233 people were in hospital, including 45 in intensive care.

The Robert Schuman hospitals group already announced it would ban visitors from entering the hospital. The director of CHL, Romain Nati, on Twitter said his hospital would also be announcing restrictions.

Après concertation au sein de la fédération des hôpitaux FHL, le CHL annoncera des restrictions pour les visites auprès des patients en fin de journée . #CHL # COVID-19 #Luxembourg

— Romain Nati (@RomainNati) October 28, 2020

Both CHL and CHEM--a hospital in Esch-sur-Alzette--have started rescheduling non-urgent medical procedures. Cancer treatment will continue, they said. CHEM earlier this week said it had converted its cafeteria into an out-patient ward to make room for more coronavirus patients at its clinic.

The CHdN in Ettelbruck is so far less affected by the upsurge in virus cases. It has one ward dedicated exclusively to virus patients and keeps a log of visitors. For the moment, it has not had to reschedule surgeries but is monitoring the situation.

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu and has been translated and edited for Delano.