Home Europe Belgium health minister says he can’t rule out second lockdown

Belgium health minister says he can’t rule out second lockdown

by editor

Belgium is heading for a “difficult autumn” as coronavirus infections are rising in a “dramatic” way, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said Sunday.

Vandenbroucke called on people to “pull together” to keep “schools open, businesses working and making sure hospitals can cope.”

But he said he could not rule out another lockdown akin to the shutdown seen this spring. “I can’t guarantee anything,” the minister told Belgian television VTM when asked whether a second lockdown was imminent.

The number of weekly positive tests across Belgium nearly doubled to 26,245 in the week to October 7, up from 13,883 the week earlier. Daily average confirmed infections now stand at a record 3,749, according to the government’s latest epidemiological report released Sunday, calculated according to a weekly rolling average.

At 364 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Belgium currently has one of the highest 14-day infection rates in the EU, second only to the Czech Republic, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

At an average 15 deaths per day last week, fatalities are still well below their record figures in April, when the country recorded 25o daily deaths and more.

The number of new hospital admissions is also well below April figures, but trending upward.

CORRECTION: This article was amended to correct the name of Belgian news outlet VTM. 

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