26 January 2021: Hospitalisations and number of people testing positive are up

26 January 2021 - Yesterday’s figures show a rise in the 7-day rolling averages for hospitalisations and people testing positive for the virus. In the week up to 22 January on average 2,119 people tested positive, that is up 4% on the week. By Saturday 23 January only 189,312 people in Belgium had received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine. This is 2.06% of the adult population. At this pace it will take ages before sufficient people are vaccinated to put the pandemic to bed. Meanwhile, biostaticians are in no doubt that the latest figures show that we are heading for a third wave. They also noteda sharp increase in the number of children under the age of 10 that are testing positive. As a result, complete schools have been closed or individual classes have been quarantined. It has already been decided that secondary schools will switch 100% to distance teaching during the week before half term. However, the growing number of infections in schools have led to calls for all schools to close temporarily as a way of curbing the spread of COVID-19. It’s a grim outlook and for many of us the ongoing corona saga is becoming a bit too much. In the Netherlands we’ve seen riots in at least 10 municipalities others are escaping in the virtual reality of videogames. On display is a picture I took in 2009 at the railway station in Geneva – Geneva, Switzerland.