The penultimate bulletin from Sciensano confirms that after several weeks of increase, Covid cases were decreasing in the first week of October, based on two indicators: the analysis of wastewater and the data collected by the Hundreds of monitoring general practitioners who take smears to determine which viruses are circulating within the population.
The slight peak recorded in September should be put into perspective according to Dr Quentin Mary, president of the Scientific Society of General Medicine (SSMG). “If the code red was triggered two weeks ago at the wastewater level, it is because 16 to 18 of the 30 treatment stations at which the samples are taken and then analyzed indicated an increasing trend of the virus as well as a high traffic rate. However, if Covid cases have increased a little, this increase is far from being proportional to the wastewater indicators because all the other markers were green.
This is good news, rejoices the president of the SSMG: “This discrepancy shows that we are in the presence of an Omicron variant, KP.3, which contaminates a large number of people but most are asymptomatic. In the latter, traces of the virus are still detectable in their excretions, which explains the high indicator figures concerning wastewater.”
The latest samples indicate that the number of sampling zones above the threshold of the high traffic and upward trend indicators is respectively 3 and 1 out of 30 zones. The decline in these indicators, both at the national and regional level, may not be noticed immediately.”car i There is always a gap between the results analyzes and the situation in general practitioners’ offices”, specifies the president of the SSMG.
The symptoms of Covid are currently less severe than those of the flu.but we find in some patients the loss of taste and smell which had disappeared since 2021 and which is reminiscent of Covid“.
The general practitioner does not recommend doing a self-test: “Never mind the virus! Whether we have caught Covid, the flu, RSV, we are contaminating. I recommend to my patients to avoid any contact with vulnerable people. p during the period of symptoms and in the two days following their disappearance “.
RSV and the flu are currently very discreet.
