Between August 4 and 10, there were 47.4 hospital admissions on average per day of patients suffering from Covid-19, an increase of 22 percent compared to the previous reporting period, according to the Sciensano Public Health Institute on Wednesday.
A total of 467 people remain hospitalized due to Covid-19 (+27% over a week), including 121 patients being treated in intensive care (+29%).
Between August 1 and 7, an average of 1,755 new Covid-19 infections were detected per day, up 12 percent compared with the previous week.
During the same period, 3.4 people died on average per day from the virus (+4%), bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in Belgium to 25,279.
An average of 51,000 tests were also performed daily, with a positive rate of 3.8%.
The virus reproduction rate, based on the number of hospitalizations, is 1.18.
When it’s higher than 1, this indicator means that the epidemic tends to accelerate.
The incidence, which indicates the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, reached 202.3 over 14 days.
More than 8.21 million Belgians have received a first dose of the vaccine, representing 71.3% of the population, and nearly 7.38 million people are fully vaccinated, accounting for approximately 64.1% of the total Belgian population.
Infectologist Jeroen van der Hilst warned earlier this week that Belgium should relax its coronavirus restrictions now, while the ICUs are as good as empty, to spread out Covid-19 patients and avoid full hospitals again in autumn.
Young people and returning travellers are part of the reason the number of coronavirus infections in the Brussels-Capital Region is rising, according to Inge Neven, head of the Brussels Health Inspectorate.
The Brussels Times
