The alert threshold of 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants has been exceeded in the Brussels region, and so there will be a mandatory mouth mask in public. But it is striking: the situation is much more pressing in densely populated areas with a lot of poverty.
After Antwerp had introduced strict measures, the pressure on Brussels grew. Because there too, the figures have been rising for some time, and the call for a mouth mask obligation has been getting louder and louder. The Brussels government promised to do so as soon as 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants were added during the past week, and it happened this morning. The alarm threshold has been exceeded with a figure of 54.
Just for comparison: in Antwerp the figure is 179, a lot higher than in Brussels. But the situation in Brussels is no less serious, thinks Dirk Devroey, chair of the General Practice Medicine department at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Because in Brussels the figures are rising exponentially. He says this in a conversation with De Oorrow on Radio 1.
“They are not stabilizing. Moreover, the figures in a number of municipalities are much closer to 100 than to 50. In the northwest of the region – Saint-Gilles, Saint-Josse, Molenbeek or Anderlecht – the numbers are much higher.” Incidentally, Devroey thinks that a mouth mask obligation – which already applies in many Brussels streets – will not suffice. He also calls for the cafes to be closed at 11 p.m.
