After nearly two years of Covid-19 "crisis management," the Brussels health authorities have started switching to "risk management" now that the Omicron wave has mostly passed.
Like all of Belgium, the Brussels-Capital Region experienced a very high peak of infections during the fifth wave, but Inge Neven of the Brussels Health Inspectorate stressed that the region is now also seeing a sharp fall in cases – reducing significantly the demand for testing and tracing.
"We are adjusting our strategy and moving from 'crisis management' to 'risk management,' hoping that we are moving towards the endemic phase," Neven said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
"If a dangerous variant appears we will still have the possibility to switch very quickly and can still rebuild to the necessary capacity," she added.
'Covid is almost over'
The Brussels population "has the feeling that Covid is almost over," said Neven. This means that authorities must think very carefully about how to continue with measures without losing the residents' trust.
In practice, the focus will shift more unto the population that is at an increased risk of contracting severe cases of Covid-19. "This is primarily the residents of our residential care centres, over-65s, over-55s with underlying disorders and those living in our poorer neighbourhoods, where there are more households with several generations within one home."
"We want to protect the older and more fragile population and of course also encourage the people who are in regular contact with them (such as healthcare workers) to continue to follow the appropriate measures and to definitely get vaccinated," Neven said.
Future developments
Several experts have predicted calmer months for Belgium now that the Omicron wave has mostly passed; the nationwide switch to 'code orange' on the coronavirus barometer also indicates a favourable epidemiological evolution.
"We have moved beyond the Omicron wave into better waters," Neven said, adding that the authorities have also become more confident in correctly predicting the evolution of the figures.
"We are also reflecting on possible scenarios for the future, which will hopefully point towards an end to the pandemic, and towards a more endemic phase," she said.
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Neven reiterated the importance of being able to scale up quickly when needed, especially for Brussels. "In the last two years, we have seen that new waves always started because of travellers, both inhabitants of Brussels and other people passing through."
"That is why we have a special focus to see how we can prevent possible new invasions, and build up a good vigilance system together with the other regions to make sure that no new variants are coming in."
