According to the report, Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroek justified the importance of the measure by saying that Belgium should be able to collect more information about the possible spread of new coronavirus variants
What is happening in China today is exciting
– said Vandenbroek, then added: The Belgian government is concerned about the rising number of infections and deaths in China. He stressed that the numbers of Chinese cases do not pose an immediate danger in Belgium thanks to widespread vaccination.
According to the minister, to Brussels Zaventem International Airport Of the direct flights coming from China, the waste water of two aircraft will be tested per week, This makes it possible to screen the virus’ genome, i.e. its complete genetic information, to discover potential new variants. In addition to the passengers on the plane and those who were in China in the past seven days and showed symptoms, They should take a rapid test and, if possible, a PCR test.
The purpose of this measure is to maintain vigilance, as well Preparing against another pandemic wave and a possible unknown virus variant – added the Belgian Minister of Health.
According to a report in Belgian French-language daily La Libre Belgique on Wednesday, Belgian federal government spokesman Olivier Ferrand said that the introduction of Covid testing should be considered for all passengers arriving from China. He said that according to test results among passengers on Tuesday’s flight from China, every third passenger tested positive. He added that this justifies the necessity of the newly introduced measures.
According to the latest information from the competent Belgian public health authority, during the past week, 1,440 people were diagnosed with coronavirus per day in Belgium, which represents an increase of 1% compared to the previous seven-day period. An average of 130 people are hospitalized with coronavirus each day, up 19 percent from the previous week.. Currently, 1,985 injured people are being treated in Belgian hospitals. In Belgium, an average of 10 people die from infection every day, and this indicator shows an increase of 41 percent.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 4,668,248 people have been infected with the new type of coronavirus and 33,228 people have died from complications in Belgium.
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