The virus remembers Belgium
Pandemic figures are on the rise, prompting scientists to urge the public to be cautious.
Covid pandemic
Pandemic figures are on the rise, prompting scientists to urge the public to be cautious.
From our correspondent Max HELLEFF (Brussels) – Belgium is not immune to the return of covid, like other European countries. Contaminations, hospitalizations, etc. : all numbers are up, resulting in the emergence of the BA.5 mutation of the Omicron variant. Or 3,826 daily cases on a weekly average (+ 36%), while last January the milestone of 50,000 was exceeded. Or also 101 hospitalizations per day on average (+ 32%), while we were close to 750 during the second wave, in the fall of 2020.
However, these data must be taken with a grain of salt: even on the increase, the number of hospital admissions is the lowest since 2020. The healthcare situation is intensifying, which has guided the authorities’ health strategy for two years, is not of concern at this time.
Special focus on summer festivals
However, several episodes of “express” contamination have been reported. The most emblematic French-speaking side is the Ducasse de Mons which provided a large audience around mid-June. Contaminations have since more than tripled among party attendees.
As with each bout of fever, scientists are called upon to decide. The Omicron-BA.5 variant can cause a big flu, warns Yves Van Laethem, infectious disease specialist and interfederal spokesperson for the fight against covid. “The main reason why contamination is increasing at the moment with BA.5 is the mutation of the virus, which gives it an immune escape”, even in vaccinated people, gears up epidemiologist Simon Dellicour (ULB).
Particular attention is given to the many festivals organized during the summer. If they take place fortunately in the open air, they gather on the other hand tens of thousands of people with an increased risk of contamination.
Hence the question of whether to put the mask back on, just two months after he disappeared from public transport. For Yves Van Laethem, festival-goers must wear it once the party is over and avoid contact with fragile people. The latter are encouraged to do a second booster shot.
Experts urge caution
On the government side, a law on emergency planning is in preparation. It should be tabled in the House in early 2023. It is not limited to pandemic waves, but wants to give the country the necessary means to deal with health, security or environmental crises. Its armed wing will be the current National Crisis Center. The Belgian Minister of Health, Frank Vandenbroucke, sees this as a response in line with the strategic reference framework for the crisis management policy established by the World Health Organization (WHO).
For the time being, concretely, it is a question of setting up an inter-administrative platform in charge of the health component. The Passenger Locator Form (PLF) for travel abroad receives a new legal basis and will only be reactivated in the event of a resurgence of the epidemic. The supervision of patients suffering from long covid will also be improved.
Experts call on everyone to exercise caution and wear the mask in the very targeted places, even if it is not compulsory. Scientists invite to receive a fourth dose of vaccine. And more than one invites the government to prepare today a response to the wave of contamination expected for October.
In the daily columns The last hourthe Belgian Minister of Health Christie Morreale specifies that it is planned to “succeed in about twenty vaccination centers at the start of the school year”.
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