The Brussels population has "a fairly good immunity" against the coronavirus now, thanks to the combination of the high number of recent infections due to the Omicron wave and the vaccination rate among the older residents.
In the past six months, 282,000 Brussels residents tested positive for the coronavirus, said the head of the Brussels health inspectorate Inge Neven during a weekly press conference on Tuesday.
"Those 282,000 residents over 12 years old tested positive mainly in the past two months, with the Omicron wave," she said. Of those, 41% were not vaccinated, 42.5% were vaccinated twice and only 14% received a booster.
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"The good vaccination rate among the older population, in combination with the booster doses and the past infections, leads to a fairly good immunity in the Brussels population," said Neven. "The proportion of positive cases in the tests is also dropping."
Many infected people also did not get tested because they did not realise they had contracted the virus, or never confirmed their positive self-test with an official PCR test. "That is why we think that a large part of the population now has immunity. The question, of course, is how long that immunity will last," she said.
Lowest incidence in the country
Additionally, all other indicators of the epidemic seemingly continue to move in the right direction, Neven said. The proportion of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units went from 31% to 25% in one week, and the reproduction value of the virus dropped to 0.61, which means that the virus is losing considerable strength.
The incidence, which currently stands at 2,263 confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past two weeks, remains high but the figure also continues to fall. "Now, it is the lowest in the whole country," said Neven, adding that this could confirm the good immunity of the Brussels population.
For the whole of the country, the incidence rate is currently considerably higher at 2,704 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest figures by the Sciensano national health institute.
