Erika Vlieghe: “Don’t give virus free rein, or we’ll come back…

Infectiologist Erika Vlieghe warns of the further advance of the corona virus. Two thirds of the Belgian population is not yet fully vaccinated. “We will still have to be careful all summer not to give the virus free rein again, or else we will get into trouble again,” Vlieghe said in ‘Terzake’ on Thursday.

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All of Portugal and most of Spain turn red on the new map of the European Center for Disease Control ECDC. Meanwhile let a travel agency for young people repatriate everyone who is on holiday with the agency in Spain, after several corona infections were identified and symptoms appear in more and more groups.

The new outbreak of the coronavirus is also happening faster than expected for Vlieghe, the chairwoman of the GEMS advisory group. For this she looks at the advance of the delta variant, the looser summer atmosphere and perhaps also the European Football Championship, where many people traveled in not always safe conditions.

The situation in the hospitals is still under control, but according to Vlieghe we should not count ourselves rich yet. “The virus is still there and has become stronger because of that variant. In the meantime, the protection shield due to the vaccinations is still under construction for a whole summer. That means that we have to be careful for a whole summer not to give the virus free rein again or else we will get into trouble again.”

“We saw this coming”

She notes that this is the situation the GEMS warned about a few weeks ago, when a lot of easing was announced. “Just because we saw this coming. We know from last year that international travel brings contamination,” it said. “At a time when the number of cases is increasing again and in a situation where a lot of vulnerable people are still unvaccinated, this could mathematically lead to a lot of potential hospitalizations.”

Vlieghe is also launching a call to those responsible for our “defense lines”, such as testing and contact tracing. “Make sure that enough people are available and remain available to assist all those returning travelers and any positive cases with advice and assistance.”

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