Belgium passed peak in Covid-19 hospitalisations on 3 November

Belgium passed peak in Covid-19 hospitalisations on 3 November
Credit: Belga/B. Doppagne

The number of new Covid-19 hospital admissions has been decreasing since 3 November, when Belgium passed the peak of the second wave, health officials said during a press conference on Monday.

The hospital admissions have been dropping across Belgium for the past few days, according to virologist and inter-federal Covid-19 spokesperson Steven Van Gucht. "On average, 596 new patients with Covid-19 were admitted to the hospitals last week, a decrease of 9% on a weekly basis."

"We expect the number of patients in ICU to remain below 1,500," he said. "That is still a lot, and it is higher than during the first wave, but fortunately remains below the maximum capacity of 2,000 planned for these patients."

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The peak of hospital admissions was recorded on Tuesday 3 November. "Exactly one week after the peak of the infection figures," Van Gucht said.

On 3 November, 879 people with Covid-19 were admitted to hospital. "Yesterday, there were about 400 admissions, which is only about half of that," he said.

However, the number of patients in the intensive care units is still on the rise. "The number currently stands at 1,469, which is again a record number, and still represents a huge burden on the hospital sector," Van Gucht said.

"Several hospitals, particularly in Wallonia, are currently saturated. However, it seems that the number of intensive care patients will stabilise this week," he added.

Additionally, the number of new infections is also decreasing in all provinces and across all age-groups now. "Two-thirds of all cases occur among 20 to 60-year-olds."

However, a decline is also noticeable among the people over 70 years old. "This will undoubtedly have a positive impact on new hospital admissions and deaths," Van Gucht said.

Maïthé Chini

The Brussels Times


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