Corona numbers continue to rise. In the hospitals, 363 people are already on artificial respiration. That was ago from December 16 last year. Since yesterday you can only enter the shops by appointment, and that had an immediate effect: it remained very quiet in the shopping streets.
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It was very quiet in the shopping streets on Saturday. The retail warehouses were less affected by the stricter shopping rules that took effect on Saturday, according to trade federation Comeos. “In general, most stores are open, but the shopping streets are very quiet,” says Comeos.
“There is little passage and customers find the different rules quite confusing,” said the spokesperson. “In one store they can come in with two by appointment, in the store next door no appointment has to be made, but they are only allowed in and a maximum of half an hour … that’s not all that easy.”
The retail warehouses are less affected than the shops in the city or those in the shopping centers. Customers think they have a better chance of shopping, because of the rule of a maximum of 50 people, it still sounds. Some retailers have customers arrange an appointment at the door. Yesterday, the demand for an appointment at furniture giant Ikea was so great that the online booking system encountered problems.
One third of intensive care occupied
The stricter measures came about because the figures are rising again. This was still the case on Saturday. The number of infections has risen to more than 4,500, reports health institute Sciensano. That is 31 percent more than in the previous seven-day period.
Today, an average of 26.7 people die from Covid-19 (+12 percent) and an average of 229.3 people are admitted to hospital (+23 percent). There are currently 2,499 people in hospital, 664 of whom are in intensive care. In addition, 363 patients required respiratory support and 50 patients are on the heart lung machine (ECMO).
Currently, exactly one third of the intensive care beds are occupied by corona patients – calculated on the total number of recognized intensive care beds, 1,992.
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