15 November 2020: Europe expects the Covid-19 vaccine to be distributed in January

15 November 2020: Update on The Corona Pandemic – Over the last week on average 6,213 per day people tested positive for the coronavirus. Also, fewer people had to go to hospital to receive treatment for coronavirus infections: the daily average for the past week was calculated at 486, which is about a quarter down on the week. The number of people that are treated on the ICU remains more or less stable. Unfortunately, the number of fatalities is still on the rise. It has now reached 201 per day in the past week, lifting the total number of Covid deaths in Belgium to more than 14,000. Yesterday’s encouraging news was that The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that it plans to give its opinion in favour of a first vaccine against the new coronavirus by the end of the year, with a view to distribution from January. However, it doesn’t mean we will be out of the woods as of then. The vaccine will be available to only a very small slice of Europeans at first, a complex distribution strategy needs to be put in place and the results of the first vaccination campaign will only be seen months later. Net-net, we still have a long way to go before we can return to our normal lives. I hope that today’s beautiful autumn colors make it all a bit more palatable – Citadelpark, Ghent, Belgium.