The increase in the number of infections also worries the government. Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (MR) will have her colleagues and experts show up on Sunday to look into the matter. To possibly introduce stricter measures again very soon.
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The Security Council postponed its decisions last Wednesday. Every day slightly more infections than the day before, that was not the climate to announce further easing. Prime Minister Wilmès scheduled a new meeting next Thursday to get a better idea of the course of the epidemic.
But the alarm bells have been ringing louder ever since. On Thursday, Wilmès asked Sciensano to release daily figures again, instead of just a weekly average. And Friday, the weekly average rose by 32 percent in one fell swoop.
And so there will be an emergency meeting on Sunday. In doing so, the Prime Minister, together with the experts and the federal states, will consider evolution in our country. If necessary, the National Security Council can be brought forward, says Wilmès. Something that Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) is in favor of.
By Friday, the average number of infections had risen to 114. If that number continues to rise, it looks like the next Security Council will not be about easing, but about tightening. “We have to prepare ourselves mentally for scaling back a number of measures,” says biostatistician Geert Molenberghs (KU Leuven).
We are now in Phase 4 of the exit strategy. During the lockdown, Wilmès said that every phase is also reversible. Swimming pools, amusement parks, cinemas and banquet halls were the last relaxation, the reopening of restaurants and cafes (Phase 3) came before. That would also be the first tensions.
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