Is flu going around in Belgium?

Belgian flu activity usually builds through December, peaks between December and February, and eases by April. Timing and intensity depend on the dominant influenza subtypes and residual immunity. Sciensano, Belgium's national public-health institute in Brussels, publishes weekly influenza updates describing the season in qualitative phases rather than precise onset dates.

Sciensano classifies flu activity in qualitative bands (baseline, low, moderate, high, very high) drawing on its sentinel GP network, sentinel laboratories, and hospital surveillance for severe acute respiratory infection. Each week's classification is compared with historical reference ranges. Sciensano also transmits Belgian indicators to ECDC ERVISS, which places them alongside other EU/EEA countries using harmonised tiering.

Belgian flu surveillance combines a sentinel network of general practitioners reporting weekly influenza-like illness consultations, sentinel laboratories testing respiratory samples for influenza subtypes, and hospital surveillance of severe acute respiratory infection. The National Reference Centre for Influenza, hosted at Sciensano, performs virological characterisation. Results feed Sciensano's weekly respiratory-virus bulletin and ECDC ERVISS.

Belgium's Conseil Supérieur de la Santé / Hoge Gezondheidsraad recommends annual flu vaccination for priority groups including adults aged 65 and above, pregnant women, people with chronic conditions, residents of long-term-care facilities, and healthcare workers. The vaccine is partially reimbursed by the INAMI/RIZIV for these groups. Sciensano publishes vaccination-coverage estimates alongside its weekly flu surveillance.

Because Belgium reports into ECDC ERVISS with harmonised indicators, its weekly flu classification is directly comparable with France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the rest of the EU/EEA. Belgium sometimes sees flu activity pick up slightly earlier than its western European neighbours, though lead–lag differences of a few weeks are typical and visible in ECDC's dashboards.