“Today, if we cannot say that we are rid of the coronavirus, the situation is nevertheless no longer worrying”.
An increase is clearly perceptible at the moment in Belgium, three weeks following the switch from code red to code orange, but it was expected, in particular due to the resumption of a series of activities, such as nightlife, for example, continues Yves Van Laethem.
“This situation does not worry us, but we must remain cautious,” he said, adding that maintaining the testing procedure will continue to be important for a while. “This rebound should be limited both in time and in magnitude,” he hopes.
The virus is still circulating a lot, especially among people in their forties (in percentage) and among those over 20 (in absolute figures), insists the spokesperson.
The rebound observed in recent days in the number of new cases concerns exclusively Flanders – the province of Antwerp has seen an increase of 32%, East Flanders of 31%, Limburg of 28% and Flemish Brabant of 21%. –, while Brussels is stable (0%) and the decrease in cases continues in Wallonia (-21% in Hainaut, -20% in the province of Namur, -16% in the province of Luxembourg, -15% in Walloon Brabant).
The Omicron BA.2 variant represented 52.7% of cases over the past week, the BA.1 47.3%.
The Chamber gave the green light yesterday/Thursday to exit from the epidemic emergency situation.
