16 April 2021: This is no time for a foreign trip yet

16 April 2021: On average during the last seven-day observation period, the week to 12 April, 3,884 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed each day. The figure is up 7% on the week. There are slightly fewer hospitalisations but there is no drop in critical care patients. Currently there are 3,049 patients in hospital with Covid of which 941 are in intensive care. In light of these most recent data healthcare professionals are voicing major concerns with regard to the raft of relaxations that the Belgian government put on the tracks yesterday. They are very worried that they will trigger an increase in Covid patients and the knock-on effect on regular care. The good news is that the EU will receive an extra 50 million doses this month of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. This will undoubtfully lift our country’s efforts to speed up inoculations in the face of difficulties with vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Clearly, this is no time for a foreign trip yet and we’ll need to enjoy our vacation at our local sea resorts – Nieuwpoort, Belgium