ANTWERP LIFE. Marc Van Ranst about the corona figures: “Festivals are not the main engine of infections, we all are” (Antwerp)
During the seven days, an average of 101.1 covid patients were admitted to hospital per day. That is 32 percent more than a week earlier. Will those numbers explode even further now that the festival season has started? “Festivals are not the main engine of infections, we all are,” says virologist Marc Van Ranst.
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After a few people on social media realized that they contracted corona at the Graspop metal festival, questions arise about the consequences for the course of the virus, now that there are still a lot of festival ahead. “Festivals are by no means the only source of infections. Family celebrations can also drive an epidemic,” Van Ranst points out.
The numbers that suddenly skyrocket are no reason to panic, according to the virologist. “There is no need for an alarm phase. The number of beds in intensive care is still below a hundred, which is not too bad. This means that on average less than 1 patient per hospital is in intensive care for corona. That is manageable,” says Van Ranst.
In addition, there are new sub-variants of the omikron variant that cause unsafe infections, but the vaccines have not yet been adapted to this. It is not clear when they will come. “You can’t put a date on it yet, because they first have to be approved by the European medicines agency EMA, but they are already produced by the various companies. We expect this to happen without too many problems, and then you’re talking about the autumn,” says Van Ranst.
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