An average of 509.4 people per day tested positive for the new coronavirus (Covid-19) in Belgium during the past week, according to figures by Sciensano on Saturday.
The figure refers to the period from 12 to 18 August and reflects a fall of 17% in the numbers compared with the previous week.
The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the start of the pandemic had now reached 80,894.
Whole lower numbers were seen in most of the country, in Brussels 874 new cases were counted, 68 more than the previous week. Flemish Brabant saw 258 new cases, an increase of 16.
All other provinces saw a fall in their numbers, of between eight fewer cases for Namur province and 489 fewer cases in Antwerp province.
Antwerp province has by far the largest number of cases, with an average of 1,273 a week over the past three weeks. Brussels in second place, over the same period, had an average of 660 cases a week. However when populations are compared, Brussels comes to an incidence of 71.7 cases per 100,000 population, compared to Antwerp’s incidence of 43.5.
From 12 to 18 August inclusive, the authorities recorded an average of 29.7 new hospital admissions per day, compared to 31 a week earlier.
In total, 314 patients were in hospital yesterday, 11 more than the day before, while 74 patients were in intensive care, a decrease of nine since the day before, according to Sciensano’s dashboard. Of those, 47 are on a respirator, three fewer than the day before, which had been the highest number since early June.
Since the beginning of the epidemic in Belgium, a total of 18,841 people have been hospitalised, 54.7% from Flanders, 29.6% from Wallonia and 15.6% from Brussels.
An average number of 10 deaths occurred per day over the period 12 t0 18 August – compared to a daily average of 6.6 in last week’s report.
The total number of deaths in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is currently 9,985 – nine more than yesterday. Flanders accounted for 50.2%, Wallonia for 34.6% and Brussels for 15.3%.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
