We are in the tail end of the pandemic, but every day 6,743 Belgians are infected with corona for the first time. Queen Mathilde does not escape either: she has been in quarantine since the weekend after a positive test.
Queen Mathilde does not escape either: she has been in quarantine since the weekend after a positive test. The queen also went into isolation in September last year — then together with King Philippe — after one of the children became infected. Since then, the palace has been spared the virus, but last weekend she tested positive. The rest of the family is not infected.
Mathilde is far from alone. ‘Normal’ life has largely resumed and for many it seems as if corona is a thing of the past, but there is still some venom in the tail of the pandemic, it turns out. Health institute Sciensano yesterday reported an average number of 7,410 new infections per day. The “first times” still make up the vast majority of those — so there’s not much re-infection.
According to virologist Steven Van Gucht, in the past ten weeks, about 9 percent of the cases (667) were a second and 0.2 percent (15) a third infection.
Six times positive
Though it could be worse. Since the start of the pandemic, 39 Belgians have already been affected by the virus four times and two people have been infected five times. The absolute record has been set by a Belgian who tested positive no fewer than six times. Sciensano notes with the figures that it only concerns the known recontaminations, and that in reality there will be many more.
The number of new infections is decreasing rapidly (-17 percent), as is the number of hospital admissions. There are now 200, a decrease of 9 percent compared to a week earlier. There are currently 3,167 people with Covid-19 in hospital, 189 of whom are in intensive care. Every day there are on average 23.1 deaths from corona, a decrease of 5 percent.
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