There is a slight increase in the number of people newly testing positive for the coronavirus in Belgium, according to figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute updated on Wednesday morning.
Between 2 and 8 May, an average of 3,029 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, up by 2% compared to the previous week. Since the beginning of the epidemic in Belgium, 1,020,332 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed.
An average of 52,372.7 tests (up by 11%) were carried out daily in the past week, with a positive rate of 6.5% (down by 0.7%).
Over the same period, an average of 37.1 people died per day from the virus (down by 1.9%), bringing the total to 24,609 deaths since the start of the epidemic in Belgium.
Related News
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, reached 365.3 over 14 days, down by 14%.
Meanwhile, the reproduction rate of the virus is currently 0.91. When this number is below 1, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down, however, this figure has been slightly increasing in the previous days.
Between 5 and 11 May, there was an average of 156.4 new hospital admissions per day due to coronavirus, a 16% decrease compared to the previous reference period.
On Tuesday, a total of 2,101 people were newly hospitalised as a result of coronavirus (154 fewer than on Monday), of which 686 (-25) people were being treated in intensive care, and 423 (-15) were on a ventilator.
More than one-third of adults in Belgium (39.5%) have received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This equates to more than 3.6 million people.
Of these, almost 1.1 million (or 12% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are considered fully protected.
On Tuesday, the Consultative Committee announced its broader "summer plan", which will gradually lead to the lifting of various restrictions if the vaccination rollout remains successful and the situation in hospitals is "evolving positively."
