What people were fearing could be the start of an autumn Covid-19 wave appears to have already peaked in Belgium, as the number of new infections continues to drop, figures published by the Sciensano Institute of Public Health on Tuesday morning showed.
Between 15 and 21 October, an average of 1,901 new daily infections were identified, a 31% decrease from the previous week and down from 2,528 on Friday last week.
The average number of tests taken per day decreased to almost 10,000 per day, while the positivity rate has fallen to 21.4%, meaning slightly more than one in five tests was positive.
Omicron BA.5 remains the dominant strain, accounting for 91.2% 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.
In the same week, nine people died as a result of an infection (-9%). The total number of deaths in Belgium since the start of the pandemic is 32,883; however, this includes people who died of another cause but who were infected, meaning it is an overestimate of Covid-19 deaths.
Situation in Belgian hospitals
In the last seven days, an average of 102 patients suffering from Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals each day (-6%), down from 111 on Friday. This figure only includes the number of people hospitalised because of the virus.
A Covid-19 patient being treated inside the Intensive Care unit of the Clinique CHC MontLegia, in Liege. Credit: Belga
The total number of people infected with the virus in Belgian hospitals remains relatively stable at 1,436, while the number of patients being treated in intensive care sits at 85, slightly more than last Friday.
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 dropped below 1 to 0.93. When this figure 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 dropped slightly to 281 over the past 14 days.
Related News
- Belgians with fake PCR tests receive jail terms
- Over 34% of adult Belgian population has received second Covid-19 booster shot
As of Saturday, more than 7.2 million people received a booster dose of the vaccine, representing 76% of over-18s and 62% of the entire population, while more than 3.3 million people have received a second booster dose – equivalent to 29% of the total population.
Adults across all regions in Belgium can now get their additional booster shots (without invitation in Wallonia and Brussels). Find out why this latest jab is important.
