© BELGA
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More people are getting infected with corona again. Every day about 2,500 people now take a positive test, while that number was a lot lower two weeks ago. Still, according to virologist Steven Van Gucht (Sciensano), there is no reason to panic. “The fact that we were now going to have a wave of contamination was written in the stars,” he says. “Although he will come a little later than initially thought.”
According to Van Gucht, the higher infection figures do not yet translate into higher hospital figures. “They will also increase, but hopefully much less pronounced. As long as it remains manageable for the hospitals, the situation is more or less under control.” The virologist emphasizes that we must remain a bit careful, for example by wearing a mouth mask in really busy places. “This way we can smooth out an increase in hospital figures more easily.”
Tightening up measures or canceling things is not yet an issue, according to Van Gucht. However, he does not want to rule out whether that will ever be necessary. “Because it is very difficult to predict how the figures will evolve further. I hope that the current trend will reverse soon.” According to him, it could also be a good goal to stay below the 500 occupied beds in intensive care. Now there are less than 200 people there. (hh)
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