The Belgian Red Cross said that the amount of blood it has in stock is in the red on Wednesday.
Belgium’s Red Cross is appealing to the public to not postpone their donations until the situation with the coronavirus is back to normal, saying it’s essential to increase the stock of just 2,500 bags in the next 15 days.
“If the stocks were looking good at the end of the Easter holidays, the situation deteriorated very quickly,” said the Belgian Red Cross.
“In a fortnight’s time, a decrease of around 15% in our collections, combined with a high demand from hospitals, was enough to put stocks in the red.”
The organisation says that the increase of teleworking likely had an effect on supply, as many people donate at their workplace or a location closeby.
“We would like to ask these donors not to postpone their donation until 'normalcy' returns,” they said. “There may be a permanent collection centre or clinic near them that they could attend and thus help us greatly.”
Donors can make an appointment at one of the 16 permanent collection centres via the website.
Appointments are mandatory at the larger collection centres. Village clinics, which are generally easier to get to within a safe distance, are mostly open access.
The Brussels Times
