British, Brazilian, Indian: these virus variants are circulating in Belgium

British, Brazilian, Indian: these virus variants are circulating in Belgium
Credit: Belga/Dirk Waem

While the number of new confirmed infections in Belgium is steadily decreasing, the ratio between the different variants remains fairly stable, health officials stated during a press conference on Friday.

"The ratio between the variants seems to change very little," said virologist and interfederal Covid-19 spokesperson Steven Van Gucht.

The British variant remains largely dominant in Belgium, with about 89% of infections.

The South African variant seems to slowly be going away, becoming less and less prevalent with only about 0.5% of infections. "This is actually very good news, because that is the variant that deviates the most from the vaccine," said Van Gucht.

The Brazilian variant remains relatively stable, at around 7% of infections.

"The number of reported cases of the Indian variant is increasing, but remains limited for the time being," he added.

Of all detected infections in the past week, the highest number of new cases was found among teenagers, with a peak among 17-year-olds.

Among the over-65s, the number of infections drops remarkably: only 3.5% of the samples taken from them tested positive, compared to about 6% in the active population, and more than 8% in teenagers.


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