19 July 2020 – Update from a post locked down Ghent

For several weeks now, the inter-federal health institute Sciensano has been producing figures based on the average of a seven-day period, instead of daily totals. Yesterday, the average daily number of new Covid infections during the past week has climbed to 127, which is 46 percent up on the week. Sciensano reported 261 new infection on one day yesterday morning, the highest number since May. In the light of the recent coronavirus figures showing no reversal of the last ten days’ trend of increased figures for new infections, prime minister Sophie Wilmès has called together the members of the national security council for a meeting tomorrow to consider the government’s next move. We need to prepare ourselves mentally for scaling back a number of measures… Do stricter measures mean that bars and restaurants will be closed again? - Oude Vismijn, Ghent, Belgium