10 May 2021: We’re not yet out of the danger zone…

10 May 2021: Between 30 April and 6 May, an average of 2,983 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, the figure is down by 2% compared to the previous week. There are 706 patients being treated in intensive care for Covid-19 in Belgium and a total of 2,168 people hospitalised with a coronavirus infection. An average of 49,303.1 tests were carried out daily, with a positive rate of 6.7%. The reproduction rate continue to stand at 0.87. The figures are encouraging, unfortunately not all that glitters is gold.  Yesterday it was announced that five residents of a care home have been infected with the so-called Indian variant of Covid-19 and one fatality was reported. The mutation is thought to be more transmissible than previous variants and the effectiveness of existing vaccines is still being studied. Clearly, vaccination against Covid-19 never offers 100% protection of becoming infected, and the success in the case of new variants is likely to be lower but subject experts stress that vaccination protects substantially against developing symptoms, the more serious outcomes, including ICU care and even death. Although we’re not yet out of the danger zone life downtown Ghent slowly but surely is returning to “normal”– Korenlei, Ghent, Belgium.