The virologist remains cautious on any comparison with the situation last March.
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ANDves Van Laethem was the guest of the RTBF news on Friday evening. On the figures for new infections in recent days, the scientist is cautious: “We are not at all in the same conditions as during the first wave. We are today in a phase of essentially asymptomatic patients. And we are in a situation that we can still master because we have the means and the necessary knowledge, if we act now of course. “
Is the situation today the same as last March? Yves Van Laethem is clear: “Not at all! The answer is very simple: the 215 cases who were admitted to the hospital at the time were very sick, and most of them in intensive care, asking for oxygen in order to survive. Here we are in the order of 215 contaminations, in which more than 50% are asymptomatic and the majority are not admitted to the hospital. The proof: there are ten admissions per day. So, we are not at all facing the same type of evolution because we do not detect the same people. At the time, these 215 people reflected thousands of undetected people. Today, the 215 contaminations do not reflect the same kind of patients either. “
About the recent decision by Sophie Wilmès to hold a concertation committee this Sunday to determine if the National Security Council should be advanced, the virologist specifies: “I do not want to replace politics but if the figures for today, which we will have tomorrow, confirm it, I think the situation is serious enough for a decision to be made, a decision which does not belong to me but which does not seem to me to be absurd. “
Finally, concerning the situation in Barcelona, Yves Van Laethem warns that “the decisions taken today by the health and political authorities in Spain could suggest that the city could turn red, if the decision is taken by CELEVAL and if it is then validated by the politician. But yes, this kind of measure is one of the measures that could turn the color red. “
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