27 February 2021: The Bubble Of 4 Did Not Burst…

27 February 2021: After months of plateauing, we see that the number of new infections, and the number of new hospital admissions continue to rise. In the week to 23 February on average 2293 people tested positive each day in Belgium. The figure is again up 25% on the week. This trend gave the government enough ammunition to resist to the mounting demand of pressure groups to relax the current measures that were put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. At a press conference yesterday Alexander De Croo announced that Belgium had decided not to relax any measures yet in light of the rising figures. Instead, the government has ordered all hospitals to free up half of their intensive care unit beds for patients who tested positive with the virus. Yesterday’s good news was that J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine was endorsed by a panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration, clearing the last hurdle before a formal authorization in the US on Saturday. In Europe the vaccine is set to receive approval from the EMA on 11 March. I hope that the approval of this additional vaccines will help steamroll Belgian’s delayed vaccine rollout, which has faced challenges caused by delays and reduction in deliveries. Today’s picture is a vignette of downtown Ghent. Unfortunately, too many people are still wearing face masks pulled down under their noses. There is a right way and plenty of wrong ways to use face masks – Korenmarkt, Ghent, Belgium.