Limiting your social contacts and sticking to the new measures has a direct effect on the number of people admitted to hospital, shows a new graph presented by the National Crisis centre during a press conference on Friday.
The graph shows the effects of reducing your social contacts according to the new rules, and was created by the University of Hasselt and the University of Antwerp.
"The red curve shows the approximate number of people that would be admitted to hospital if we would continue with a social 'bubble' of 15 others per week," said Boudewijn Catry, spokesperson for Sciensano.
"The green curve shows the patients in hospital when we stick to the contact bubble of five fixed people per household," he said. "All our efforts to limit our contacts do make a difference, especially for the vulnerable people and those caring for them," Catry said.
"The new infections and hospitalisations are still on the rise, and will continue to rise for some time before we can see the effect of the new measures," said Catry. "So we are going to have to hang on for a while before we start seeing results," he stressed.
Related News
- Belgian average rises to 371 new coronavirus infections per day, hospital admissions keep rising
- Inside Belgium's strategic plan for a second coronavirus wave
- Ten Brussels municipalities break the new-case alarm threshold
"On the subject of hospitals, we have heard of people cancelling their appointments at the hospital or their doctor. There is no need for that," Catry said. "All precautions have been taken to make sure that check-ups and treatments can continue in complete safety," Catry added.
"The various curves are still going up, and they are going to keep doing that for a few more days," said Yves Stevens, spokesperson for the Crisis Centre. "We will only start seeing the decrease if we all follow the new measures," he added.
"On 1 August, tomorrow, the sales period begins. However, a day of shopping with family or friends is unfortunately not possible right now. The situation is what it is," Stevens said. "In the shopping streets, we cannot and should not ignore the virus either," he added.
"The virus makes no distinction between people's origin, age or religion. It affects us all, and we will have to fight it together," he added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
