The positivity rate of testing for Covid-19 has now gone up to 10%, the highest it has been since November, according to the latest official figures published by the Sciensano public health institute on Sunday.
From 7 to 14 April, an average of 3,638 new people tested positive per day, up by 1% from the seven-day average of the week before.
The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is 947,000. 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, 441 infections were confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a 22% decrease compared to the two weeks before.
Between 11 and 17 April, an average of 233.7 patients were admitted to hospital per day, a decrease of 6% compared to the week before, and down from yesterday's seven-day average of 236.3.
In total, 2,916 coronavirus patients were in hospital on Friday, 99 fewer than the day before, and 924 patients were in intensive care units, one more than the day before. Meanwhile, 547 patients were on a ventilator, six more than the previous day.
From 7 to 14 April, an average number of 39 deaths occurred per day, marking an 8.4% decrease compared to the week before, and down from yesterday's average weekly deaths of 39.4. This brings the total number of deaths in the country since the beginning of the pandemic to 23,718.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 11,950,159 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, an average of 41,838.9 were taken per day over the past week, with a positivity rate of exactly 10%.
This percentage was 1.6% higher than yesterday's positivity rate of the last seven days, while testing decreased by 12%.
As of yesterday, a total of 2,204,943 people in Belgium have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 24% of the population aged 18 and older.
In addition, 696,692 people – or 7.6% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.
The reproduction rate, meanwhile, remains at 0.94, 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
