15 March 2021: Hospitalisations and new infections on the up…

15 March 2021: The latest figures on the coronavirus pandemic in Belgium show increases in both the number of people testing positive for the virus and in the number of people with COVID-19 that are needing hospital treatment. In the week to 11 March on average 2717 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The figure is up 15% on the week. During the week from 7 to 13 March an average of 153 people with COVID-19 were hospitalised each day. This is 6% up on the 7-day rolling average for the previous week. This is the first rise in several days. Despite the deteriorating figures there is some silver lining. The Flemish government announced that every person living in Flanders aged over 18 years old should receive a dose of a coronavirus vaccine by 11 July this year, providing the delivery of vaccines goes according the current schedule. That is a big if and there are still some difficult slopes to go before we’re at the end of the tunnel. Today’s picture is taken from the Aiguille du Midi, a 3,842-metre-tall mountain in the Mont Blanc massif within the French Alps – Chamonix, France.