16 April 2020 Update from A Locked Down Ghent

​Yesterday it was announced that 250 new patients were admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours and that 239 people have been discharged, bringing the total number of people in hospital to 5524. A slight decrease of 12 patients. Unfortunately, also 283 new fatalities were reported bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,440. We have likely reached the peak of the curve in the pandemic at the beginning of April, as the number of new hospital admissions has been gradually dropping since then. Despite these hopeful signs the National Security Council announced yesterday that the lockdown will be extended until at least 3 May. Next week the council will meet again to discuss the progressive relaxation of the measures from the beginning of May. We shouldn’t get too excited about this because the release of the lockdown will be a gradual process; the process is one of continuous adaptation to the evolving situation on the ground. Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be a long and bumpy ride out! Stay Safe, Stay Healthy – Klein Turkije, Ghent, Belgium