16 May 2021: Will we get an extra booster jab at the end of the year?

16 May 2021: The latest figures on the coronavirus pandemic released by the public health institute show a continuation of the positive trend set over the past couple of weeks. The number of hospitalisations and deaths of people with COVID-19 continue to fall as does the number of people testing positive for the virus. There are currently 1,918 COVID-19 patients being cared for in hospitals, a fall of 17% on a week ago. Of these 643 (-12%) are on intensive care wards. During the week from 6to 12 May an average of 2,633 people tested positive for coronavirus each day. This is down 11% on the average for the previous week.  Of the people tested, 6.1% were diagnosed positive, a fall of 0.8 percentage points on the previous week. Although an improvement this is still over the 5% positivity rate threshold above which the WHO considers an epidemic to be “giving cause for concern”. The reproduction rate stands at 0.89. Yesterday it was announced that we most likely will get a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine at the end of the year. It is still to be decided whether everyone will be offered a booster jab or if it only will be for the at-risk groups. Studies are still being carried out. Despite the encouraging figures I’m still holding my breath when I’m looking at the hustle and bustle in the historical city center of Ghent. Today’s picture shows people enjoying the re-opened outdoor hospitality late yesterday afternoon – Ghent, Belgium.