27 April 2021: 66% of Belgians think travel ban was lifted too early…

27 April 2021: From 17 to 23 April, 3539 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. This is 1% up on the week. There are currently 2,883 COVID-19 patients being cared for in hospitals. This figure is down 4% on a week ago. Of these 885 are on ICU ward, a fall of 5% compared to this time one a week ago. The positivity rate continues stand at 9.5% and the reproduction rate fell slightly to 0.95. By Saturday 24 April 2,656,058 people in Belgium had already received their first dose of coronavirus vaccine. This is 28.9% of the adult population. Whilst the corona figures seem to be stabilising at a high plateau the first relaxing measures were introduced yesterday. Meanwhile, in India the pandemic is rapidly sliding into a devastating crisis, with hospitals unbearably full, oxygen supplies running low and desperate people dying in line waiting to see doctors. Each day, the government reports more than 300,000 new infections.  In Belgium, 23 other cases of the Indian mutation of the virus are currently known: 20 among nursing students in Leuven and Aalst and three cases in Antwerp. According to a survey of the University of Antwerp, all of this make 66% of Belgians think that 19 April was too soon to lift the ban on non-essential travel.  Today’s picture is from our March 2015 visit to Delhi – Delhi, India.