The average number of people testing positive for the coronavirus in Belgium has dropped below 400, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute published on Saturday morning.
Between 16 and 22 June, an average of 358 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 41% compared to the previous week, and the lowest since July last year.
Meanwhile, the daily average of testing over the past week decreased by 3% (an average of 38,256.9 tests were carried out) with a positivity rate of 1.3% (down by 0.7%).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,082,476 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.
During the same period, an average of 5.4 people died per day from the virus (down by 12% from the previous week), bringing the total to 25,160 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.
Between 19 and 25 June, there was an average of 26.3 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 25% decrease compared to the previous reference period.
On Friday, a total of 380 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (41 fewer than on Thursday), of whom 157 (-17) people were being treated in intensive care, and 101 (-8) were on a ventilator.
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, has slumped by 66% since the last 14-day period and now sits at 58.7.
The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium has returned to 0.80 after rising to 0.83 briefly during the week. While this number remains below 1, which it has for over two months, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down.
As of Thursday, 72.5% of the adult population in Belgium had received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to just over 6.7 million people.
Of these, over 3.7 million people (40.5% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are now considered fully protected.
Across the whole of Belgium, as well as in Wallonia and Flanders individually, the 70% first-dose vaccination threshold has been reached, meaning that both conditions for the next phase of the ‘Summer Plan’, which is only set to start on 30 July, have already been fulfilled.
However, in Brussels, just 52% of the adult population has been partly vaccinated, resulting in the city taking extra steps to speed up its campaign and vaccinate as many people as possible.
The Brussels Times
