The number of people now considered fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in Belgium has now reached 20% of the adult population, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute updated on Friday morning.
Between 18 and 24 May, an average of 17.4 people died per day from the virus (down by 12.9% from the previous week), bringing the total to 24,902 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.
During the same period, an average of 2,049 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 3% compared to the previous week, continuing a period of almost continuous decline.
Meanwhile, the daily average of testing over the past week also increased significantly by 16% (an average of 47,801.1 tests were carried out) with a positive rate of 5.4% (down by 0.3%).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,055,543 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.
Between 20 and 26 May, there was an average of 100.7 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 19% decrease compared to the previous reference period.
On Thursday, a total of 1,366 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (96 fewer than on Wednesday), of whom 491 (-17) people were being treated in intensive care, and 313 (-5) were on a ventilator.
Over the last two weeks, the number of ICU cases has decreased by over 150 and has now fallen below the threshold of 500 set by the Consultative Committee as the boundary at which it would be safe to open up more of society in June.
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, reached 254.1, down by 29%.
The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium last week dropped to below 0.90 and remained stable at 0.88 for two days. After rising to 0.93, it has now gone back to 0.84. When this number is below 1, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down.
More than 48% of the adult population in Belgium has received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to almost 4.49 million people. Of these, 1,843,141 people (20% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are considered fully protected.
The Brussels Times
