The number of new hospitalisations and ICU cases as a result of the coronavirus has dropped much below the threshold of 500 set by the Consultative Committee to allow relaxations from Wednesday, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute.
Between 1 and 8 June, there was an average of 67.1 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 21% decrease compared to the previous reference period.
On Tuesday, a total of 888 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (80 fewer than on Monday), of whom 194 (-4) were on a ventilator.
Of these patients, 319 (-16) people were being treated in intensive care, meaning the pressure on intensive care has "sustainably improved" as set out by the Consultative Committee, and that dozens of coronavirus rules are being relaxed as part of the first stage of Belgium’s “summer plan.
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Between 30 May and 5 June, an average of 1,315 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 25% compared to the previous week, continuing a period of almost uninterrupted decline. On Monday, this figure dropped below 1,500 for the first time since September.
Meanwhile, the daily average of testing over the past week increased by 2% (an average of 44,576 tests were carried out) with a positive rate of 3.5% (down by 1.1%).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,072,175 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.
During the same period, an average of 13.9 people died per day from the virus (up by 4.3% from the previous week), bringing the total to 25,051 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, reached 186.2, down by 33%.
The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium has gone up to 0.86. While this number remains below 1, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down. The number has been lower than 1 since 22 April.
As of Tuesday, more than 56% of the adult population in Belgium had received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to more than 5.1 million people.
Of these, 2,587,467 people (28.1% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are now considered fully protected.
The second threshold, stating that 70% of people aged over 65 should be vaccinated, has also been reached.
