The increase in the average number of deaths as a result of the coronavirus in Belgium has started to slow down slightly.
Between 5 and 11 September, the average number of people dying per day from the virus has risen slightly and now sits at 7, a 17% increase from last week. This brings the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in Belgium to 25,477.
Meanwhile, an average of 42,219.7 tests were performed daily, whilst the positivity rate has slowly started to drop, and now sits at 5.1%, a 0.3% decrease since last week.
During the same period, an average of 1,961 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, a 1% decrease compared with the previous week, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute on Wednesday morning.
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Between 8 and 14 September, on average, 59 patients suffering from Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals per day, a 16% decrease compared to the previous week.
On Tuesday, a total of 701 people remained in hospitals due to an infection (one fewer than on Monday), including 219 patients being treated in intensive care (-4), with 119 on a ventilator (+4).
As a result of this decrease, Belgian hospitals will not be asked to reserve a quarter of their intensive care beds for Covid-19 patients from Wednesday after all, reversing the decision announced earlier this month by the Hospital Transport Surge Capacity Committee (HTSC).
The virus reproduction rate has now slumped to 0.90 after sitting above 1 for weeks. This figure represents the average number of people infected by each infected person, and when it is lower than 1, it means that the epidemic is slowing down.
The incidence, which indicates the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and has been increasing for weeks on end, has decreased (1%) slightly and sits at 239.7 over the past 14 days.
As of Monday, more than 8.5 million people in Belgium have received a first dose of the vaccine, representing 86% of the adult population, and 74% of the total population.
Meanwhile, more than 8.27 million people are fully vaccinated, accounting for 84% of the adult population in Belgium, and 72% of the total population.
As the vaccination campaign across Belgium is coming to a halt, these figures rarely increase on a daily basis.
The Brussels Times
