5 January 2021: Life looked a little different 4 years ago.

5 January 2021: Life looked a little different 4 years ago. This very day we were travelling from Cusco to Lake Titicaca. This picture was taken at the border between the Cusco and Puno Region. The elevation at this point is 4,335 meter.  Today, we are monitoring coronavirus statistics and are anxiously waiting to be vaccinated. Here’s today’s update of the Corona Pandemic in Belgium. During the week from 26 December to 1 Januaryan average of 1,581 people/day tested positive for the coronavirus. This is down 14% on the 7-day rolling average for the previous week. The figures are heading in the right direction albeit at a slower pace and the level at which the virus is circulating remains very high. If the trend continues at this pace it will be 20 January before the 7-day rolling average for positive tests is down to 800/day and the 7-day rolling average of 75/day for hospital admissions won’t be reached for another 7 weeks. These were the targets the government set at the end of November to start considering any relaxations of the current measures. Meanwhile, there is a growing concern that vaccinations are starting off too slowly. By Sunday night only 700 people had received their corona vaccine, while 10,000 doses have been delivered. Belgium is receiving 87,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine each week, but by the end of this week no more than 6,000 people will have been inoculated whilst abroad, especially in Germany, vaccinations are proceeding apace. How come? Experts are saying that they want to upscale the process in a way that ensures quality and that they don’t want to make any mistakes and waste vaccines. We Belgians seem to need more time to master the skills necessary to transport, store and defrost the vaccines than our neighboring countries. Understand who can? Anyhow, it looks like we’re confined to our homes for a while and long distance travelling is a distant dream.