Covid-19: New cases, hospital admissions slow down, but deaths continue to rise

Covid-19: New cases, hospital admissions slow down, but deaths continue to rise
© Belga

The number of new coronavirus infections in the country is continuing to decline, according to the latest official figures published by the Sciensano public health institute on Sunday.

Between 31 March and 7 April, an average of 3,599 new people tested positive per day, down by 21% from the 7-day average of the week before.

The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is 922,487. The total reflects all people in Belgium who have been infected and includes confirmed active cases as well as patients who have since recovered or died as a result of the virus.

Over the past two weeks, 498.3 infections were confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a 1% decrease compared to the two weeks before.

Between 4 and 10 April, an average of 249.7 patients were admitted to the hospital per day, a decrease of 7% compared to the week before, and down from yesterday's 7-day average of 250.3.

In total, 3,027 coronavirus patients were in hospital on Saturday, 89 fewer than the day before. The number of patients in intensive care is falling, as there were 905 patients in these units on Saturday, 20 fewer than the day before.

Meanwhile, 523 patients were on a ventilator, eight more than the previous day.

From 31 March to 7 April, an average number of 42.7 deaths occurred per day, marking a 49.5% increase compared to the week before, and up from yesterday's average weekly deaths of 41.1.

The total number of deaths in the country since the beginning of the pandemic is currently 23,428.

Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 11,670,137 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, an average of 47,333.7 were taken per day over the past week, with a positivity rate of 8.4%.

This percentage rose by 0.6% since yesterday's positivity rate of the last seven days, while testing decreased by 29%.

As of yesterday, a total of 1,779,410 people in Belgium have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 19.4% of the population aged 18 and older, up by more than 70,000 from the day before.

In addition, 615,866 people – or 6.7% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.

The reproduction rate, meanwhile, stands at 0.97, meaning that one person with coronavirus infects on average less than one other person and that the epidemic is slowly declining in Belgium.

The Brussels Times


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