Number of Covid patients in hospital falls below 500

Number of Covid patients in hospital falls below 500
Credit: Belga

The number of patients currently in hospital due to coronavirus infections in Belgium has dropped to its lowest point since September last year, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute published on Sunday morning.

Earlier in May, the Consultative Committee was looking for the number of beds in intensive care occupied by Covid patients to fall below 500, to allow further relaxation of measures to take place. That threshold has now also been passed by hospital cases all together.

Between 10 and 16 June, an average of 542.3 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 45% compared to the previous week. This number this week dropped below 700 for the first time in months, and keep on falling.

Meanwhile, the daily average of testing over the past week decreased by 7% (an average of 38,792.4 tests were carried out) with a positivity rate of 1.9% (down by 1%).

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,079,084 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.

During the same period, an average of 6.1 people died per day from the virus (down by 37% from the previous week), bringing the total to 25,132 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.

Between 13 and 19 June, there was an average of 33.1 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 37% decrease compared to the previous reference period. This figure also reached its lowest point since September this week.

On Saturday, a total of 555 459 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (96 fewer than on Friday), of whom 203 (-33) people were being treated in intensive care, and 125 (-13) were on a ventilator.

The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, has more than halved (-56%) since the last 14-day period and has now reached 93.

The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium is continuing to drop and now sits at 0.72. While this number remains below 1, which it has for over two months, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down.

As of Saturday, 66.9% of the adult population in Belgium had received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to almost 6.2 million people.

Of these, 3,471,532 people (37.6% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are now considered fully protected.

The Brussels Times


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