COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium

The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on 4 February 2020, when one of a group of nine Belgians repatriated from Wuhan to Brussels was reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus.

[5][6] Transmission within Belgium was confirmed in early March; authorities linked this to holidaymakers returning from Northern Italy at the end of the half-term holidays.

[citation needed] By March 2021, Belgium had the third highest number of COVID-19 deaths per head of population in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

[10] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

On 2 February, nine Belgian nationals living in Hubei were repatriated on an evacuation flight landing at Melsbroek Air Base close to Brussels before being transferred to the Military Hospital of Neder-Over-Heembeek, where they underwent a 14-day quarantine and were tested for infection with the virus.

[citation needed] On 21 February, a group of ten Belgian citizens were allowed to return to Belgium after having been constrained on the MS Westerdam cruise ship for several days.

[31][32] Steven Van Gucht of the Scientific Committee predicted that in the worst-case scenario the epidemic would cause 13,000 virus infections, with 2,000 to 3,000 hospitalisations and 500 to 700 patients in intensive care.

[40] A retirement home in Gooik stopped receiving visitors after discovering that one of its employees could have been in contact with the coronavirus, a precaution[41] the Flemish Agency for Care and Health qualified as inappropriate and "excessive".

[60] On 26 March, Sciensano published a map that showed that the highest recorded concentrations of infections were found in Alken and Sint-Truiden (Limburg) and Quévy and Honnelles (Hainaut).

[62] The high level of cases in the affluent municipality of Bonheiden is thought to be linked with the number of travellers who had returned from ski resorts in the North of Italy around the beginning of March.

On 1 June Belgium's Prince Joachim issued a public apology following news that he tested positive for COVID-19 after he attended a party in Spain, in violation of the country's lockdown.

[80] Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst advocated against easing and in favour of stricter measures, calling the situation in Belgium on 15 September a recipe for disaster.

[116] On 16 March, the Chinese Alibaba foundation donated half a million surgical masks and 30 000 test kits, as a result of the intervention by King Philippe and with the support of the Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX).

[119] In an effort to support international research, Belgium pledged 5 million euro to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) which intends to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

[120] On 7 April, a Group of Experts for an Exit Strategy (GEES), led by Erika Vlieghe and composed of 10 scientists, economists and top managers, was set up to advise the National Security Council on the restart of the country.

[121] At the outset, the Belgian authorities, mostly through their federal Minister of health Maggie De Block, had focused on reassuring by asserting that there was no reason to panic,[122] that Belgium has good hospitals and laboratories[123] and that the government was attentive to the evolution and well prepared for the possible arrival of coronavirus.

Every day, the latest developments on the epidemiological situation in Belgium are reported, with the new figures of confirmed cases, hospitalised patients and deaths, as well as general explanations and forecasts, or reminders of the need to respect the social distancing measures.

In an apparent effort at transparency, a daily epidemiological bulletin and a set of raw data are made available on the Belgian Institute for Health website.

[130][131][132][133][specify] Experts and authorities also used the media to express themselves throughout the crisis, either to reproach citizens organising or taking part in so-called 'lockdown or corona parties',[134] or otherwise to give their point of view.

Experts like Marc Wathelet, a virologist specialised in coronaviruses, urged for strict prevention measures, affirming that the Belgian federal minister of health Maggie De Block was underestimating the danger[138] and Professor in microbiology Herman Goossens of the UZA [nl] in Antwerp, called for wider screening for the virus.

[143] The BVAS/ABSyM, the biggest medical trade union in Belgium, warned for a potential collapse of the health care system and called for a closure of all schools at short notice as well as a ban on all gatherings of more than hundred people.

[144][145] In an open letter several Flemish rectors with experts in the fields of epidemiology, virology, biostatistics and health economics, including two members of the Scientific Committee for Coronavirus, urged the authorities to take decisive measures and to avoid non-binding instructions and guidelines.

[146] Similarly, Leopold Lippens, the mayor of Knokke-Heist, judged the actions of the federal authorities insufficient and therefore ordered the ban on all indoor and outdoor activities in his municipality.

[161] On 25 March, PVDA-member of parliament Sofie Merckx complained that since 2009 the various governments had not renewed the strategic reserves of mouth masks due to cost cutting measures in the health care system.

[164][165] Two surgeons from the Brussels Saint Pierre hospital addressed an open letter to prime minister Wilmès on 22 March demanding increased testing.

[183] This way of counting was criticised by Flemish Minister for Tourism, Zuhal Demir, as it would portray Belgium as bad in the fight against coronavirus and also would harm the Belgian reputation of being a prominent country in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

[220] The vaccines division of GlaxoSmithKline, which has its headquarters in Belgium, helped with providing its infrastructure and staff free of charge to carry out at least 6,000 PCR tests per day on their Rixensart site,[221] participating in an increase of the number of analyses in the country, as of 9 April.

[229] Following the containment measures of the federal government, many Belgian businesses had to shut down temporarily or have reduced staff numbers at work, resulting in 1.25 million people on temporary unemployment.

[242][specify] Belgian researchers at the Royal Observatory of Belgium noticed a drop of the background noise on the seismic data that could be the result of transport networks and other human activities being shut down.

[needs update] The official reports from the national public health institute of Belgium do not refer to recovered people but only to discharged patients.