Since the Covid-19 situation in Belgium worsened again last month, all major indicators have once again decreased, with the number of people being hospitalised due to the virus dropping below 80 for the first time since mid-June.
In the last seven days, an average of 78.1 patients suffering from Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals each day – an 18% decrease from the previous seven days, according to figures published by the Sciensano Institute of Public Health on Tuesday morning.
This only includes the number of people hospitalised because of the virus. Meanwhile, a total of 1,105 people in Belgian hospitals were infected with the virus on Monday, while the number of people being treated in intensive care dropped to 71. This number does include patients admitted with a different condition who later tested positive.
Cases, testing and deaths
An average of 1,704 new daily infections were identified between 13 and 19 August, down 21% from the previous seven days.
The average number of tests taken per day decreased to 7,700, while the positivity rate dropped to 24.6%, meaning slightly fewer than one in four tests have a positive result.
A Covid-19 test centre at the Bruxelles-Midi station in January 2021. Credit: Belga
Omicron BA.5 remains the dominant strain, accounting for 95.2% of all infections. The strain is said to be no more or less infectious than the other Omicron subvariants but is effective at circumventing people’s accumulated immunity.
Meanwhile, an average of 8.9 Covid-19 patients died each day over the past seven days (-7%), while the total number of deaths in Belgium since the start of the pandemic is 32,463. This includes people who died of another cause but who were infected, meaning it is an overestimate of Covid-19 deaths.
Reproduction rate, incidence, and total vaccinations
The reproduction rate (the average number of people that contract the virus from each infected person) sits at 0.89. When it is below 1, it means that the epidemic is slowing down in Belgium. The incidence (the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants) has decreased to 233 over the past 14 days.
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As of Saturday, almost 9.1 million people are fully vaccinated – 89% of Belgium's adult population and 79% of the total population. This figure was higher, but since the end of June, this figure takes into account vaccinated people who died.
Meanwhile, more than 7.18 million people have received a booster dose of the vaccine, representing 76% of over-18s and 62% of the entire population. From September onwards, an additional booster will be available to a larger group of the population. Find out if you are eligible here.
