CORONACRISIS

The sample examined on Saturday was thinner than the researchers had expected, explains Elke Wollants, head of the laboratory at the Rega Institute. ‘We wanted a thicker substance, a real stool sample. Now it was mainly water with a little dirt, in which we thought we would find nothing.’ The fact that the sample still tested positive means that some people on the plane were corona-infected. The sample also tested negative for RSV and influenza.

The next research step is to see which chainring variant is involved, but even that is made more difficult by the thin steel. “We’ll see if anything comes up. Anything that isn’t omikron is a concern, because that would be new here,” says Wollants.

Wollants does not know why the steel was not of the desired nature. However, the service that takes the sample has been asked to improve it in the future. “We have to keep an eye on it,” concludes Wollants. ‘Most likely it’s nothing, but then we can reassure the population.’