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Belgium continues to experience a rampant increase in positive covid-19 cases and the Belgian Health Minister admits that the situation could spiral out of control, warning of the risk of a “tsunami”, specifically in Brussels.
The day the new restrictive measures enacted last Friday by the Government came into force – such as the closing of bars, cafes and restaurants for a month and the curfew between midnight and 5 a.m. – the authorities Belgian health institutions indicate that, in the last two weeks, there was an incidence rate of 747 confirmed cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants, which represents an increase of 221% compared to the previous 14 days.
Even without consolidated data from the weekend, the bulletin updated daily by the Belgian health authorities reveals that between October 9 and 15 there were more than 55 thousand new cases of contagion, which represents an average of about 8 thousand cases daily and a 79% increase over the previous seven days.
In terms of deaths, Belgium has already reached 10,413 deaths from covid-19, and between October 9 and 15, an average of 30 people died a day, which represents an increase of 89% compared to the previous seven days.
On the other hand, between October 12 and Sunday, there was a 100% increase in the number of hospitalizations for covid-19 compared to the previous seven days (daily average of 251.9 hospitalizations, compared to 125.7 the last week).
Faced with this scenario, in a country similar in size to Portugal (11.5 million inhabitants), the Belgian Health Minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, warned, in an interview with RTL, that the country is “really very close.” of a ‘tsunami’ “.
According to the minister, the “tsunami” represents a situation in which “there is no longer control over what is happening”, and this is a scenario from which the capital, Brussels, and the French-speaking southern region are dangerously close. of the country, Wallonia, which Vandenbroucke even identifies as the regions with the most serious health situation in all of Europe.
“If this continues, the number of hospitalizations will be such that we will have to increasingly postpone ‘no covid’ health care,” he said, addressing fears that in less than a month, health units will already be receiving intensive care. they do not answer.
To try to stop the spread of the pandemic in the country, the Belgian Government decided last Friday to decree a mandatory curfew throughout Belgian territory, the closure of bars and restaurants and mandatory telework “whenever possible”, measures that entered into force today.
“We are aware that these measures are very harsh and that, for many people, they are unfair, but this virus is also unfair. Although it affects us all, it mainly affects the most vulnerable people and we must adopt these measures to protect these people. . “, stressed the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo.
De Croo described the current situation as “serious”, referring that it is an “exponential growth of the pandemic” with the number of cases “doubling weekly”, and that “today the whole world resents the presence” of the new coronavirus covid- 19.
“It is important to attract attention: in the coming days, the news will continue to be bad,” warned De Croo.
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