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On January 9, 2025, the Risk Assessment Group (RAG) decided to raise the alert level for respiratory infections. “This means that the peak of respiratory infections is now putting significant pressure on the health system, requiring additional recommendations and actions to contain the phenomenon.“, they explained.
And this Thursday, January 16, it was the schools of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation which received a circular with different recommendations to follow as part of this alert. Among them: ventilate indoor spaces, wash your hands, or wear a mask if you are a vulnerable person (over 65, pregnant, etc.).
The flu on the rise
The number of flu cases increased sharply during the second week of January in Belgium, according to figures from the weekly report from the Sciensano Institute of Public Health published on Wednesday. During this period, around 77,000 Belgians went to their general practitioner for flu symptoms. This leads to a (very) high workload for six out of ten general practitioners.
-The number of positive flu tests in laboratories continues to increase and here too the peak seems to be in sight. In addition, an increase is also seen in nursing homes with 23 cases per 1,000 residents during the second week of January. Of these residents, 2.3 per 1,000 required hospitalization.
Other viruses, low…
Hospital admissions for acute respiratory infections also increased during the first week of January, reaching 14.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, or more than 1,600 Belgians. The analysis shows that a large part of these admissions is due to influenza.
Other respiratory viruses, such as the RSV virus, on the other hand, show a downward trend, although here too the figures remain high. The coronavirus is currently circulating at a remarkably low level in our country, with a positivity rate of 2.7% of tests carried out. This is a decrease from the previous week.
