An average of 6.1 Covid-19 patients died each day between 30 August and 5 September – an increase of 10% according to figures published by the Sciensano Institute of Public Health on Friday morning.
The total number of deaths in Belgium since the start of the pandemic is 32,575. This includes people who died of another cause but who were infected, meaning it may be an overestimate of Covid-19 deaths.
Meanwhile, an average of 1,489 new daily infections were identified in the same week, down 2% from the previous seven days.
The average number of tests taken per day increased slightly since Tuesday to 8,100, while the positivity rate dropped to 20%, meaning one in five tests have a positive result.
Omicron BA.5 remains the dominant strain, accounting for 93.4% of all infections. The strain is said to be no more infectious than the other Omicron subvariants but is effective at circumventing people’s accumulated immunity.
Situation in Belgian hospitals
In the last seven days, an average of around 60 patients suffering from Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals each day – a 1% decrease from the previous seven days. This figure only includes the number of people hospitalised because of the virus.
Meanwhile, a total of 769 people in Belgian hospitals were infected with the virus on Thursday, almost 20 fewer than on Monday. The number of Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care increased slightly since last week to 63.
This number does include patients admitted with a different condition who later tested positive.
Reproduction rate, incidence, and total vaccinations
The reproduction rate (the average number of people that contract the virus from each infected person) has increased to 1.01. When it is above 1, it means that the epidemic is spreading more rapidly in Belgium. The incidence (the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants) has decreased to 182 over the past 14 days.
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As of Tuesday, almost 7.2 million people have now received a booster dose of the vaccine, representing 76% of over-18s and 62% of the entire population, while around 618,400 people have had a second booster dose – equivalent to 5% of the total population. This group mainly consists of people aged over 75 at the moment.
Belgium's regions will soon start inviting a broader group of the general population for additional booster shots from the end of September onwards. Find out why this latest jab is important.
