“Virologist Steven Van Gucht on current state of COVID-19 in Belgium: decreasing infections, but virus not gone yet”

The number of corona infections per day remains relatively low. Virologist Steven Van Gucht confirms this to our editors. Sciensano’s weekly report reports 504 new infections in the period from 13 to 19 April. ‘That figure is incomplete and does not fully reflect reality’, Van Gucht qualifies. ‘There is less testing, but measurements in the wastewater do confirm the downward trend.’

This trend has ensured that we were able to switch to management level 1. This means that there is still virus circulation, but at a low level and without impact on the healthcare system. ‘Hospitals are under little pressure. Patients stay there for less time and their symptoms are often less severe because of immunity they already acquired in the past’, explains Van Gucht.

“Small outbreaks can always appear locally and the virus has not disappeared yet, but I think we are in fairly calm waters at the moment,” the virologist emphasizes. “Sometimes on social media fear is spread by new variants that emerge, but those are all omikron variants, so I’m not too worried.”

There is also less and less confusion with other typical winter diseases. ‘The flu epidemic and the spread of RSV stopped a few weeks ago. If you now get up with a fever, headache and a heavy cough, it seems likely to me that it is corona,” says Van Gucht. ‘To be really sure, you have to do a test,’ he adds.

With the summer ahead, Van Gucht suspects that the risk of infection will decrease further. ‘People live outside and windows and doors are open, which provides more ventilation,’ he says. His good advice: ‘Think of people with increased vulnerability. Stay indoors if you feel sick and wear a face mask if you have to leave your house.’