Several experts have sounded the alarm, this Thursday January 14, about the British and South African variants of the coronavirus. Warning of a more contagious virus, health professionals have called for stricter measures to be put in place quickly, especially on travel. Asked about the issue, the Prime Minister did not rule out the possibility of tightening the screws very soon. Alexander De Croo explained that he had sought advice from GEMS, the group of experts responsible for advising the government, on the procedure to be followed in the face of these worrying variants. “We asked the experts to take an interest in the variants and to tell us quickly if additional rules were necessary”, detailed the Flemish liberal in the Chamber on Thursday.
Emphasizing the good news reported in recent days about the vaccine, the Prime Minister however warned of a deterioration of the situation in the days to come. He thus recalled that Belgium “was not an island” and that even if the situation remained under control for the moment, we should not lose sight of what was currently happening in neighboring countries.
“The British variant is already circulating on our territory”
The Minister of Health, Frank Vandenbroucke (sp.a), announced that new contaminations with the British variant had been detected on our territory. “There are about 8 new clusters in connection with this new variant”, he explained to the Chamber on Thursday. “3 clusters had no link with abroad, the others had links with Lebanon, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Dubai. The variant therefore also circulates in Belgium and is not always linked to travel, even so sometimes it does. We are facing a new danger. ”