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 Friday morning.
Between 15 and 21 June, an average of 381 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 44% 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 38,368.7 tests were carried out) with a positivity rate of 1.4% (down by 0.8%).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,081,908 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.
During the same period, an average of 5.9 people died per day from the virus (down by 18% from the previous week), bringing the total to 25,152 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.
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Between 18 and 24 June, there was an average of 28.6 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 24% decrease compared to the previous reference period.
On Thursday, a total of 421 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (18 fewer than on Wednesday), of whom 174 (-9) people were being treated in intensive care, and 109 (-2) were on a ventilator.
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, has slumped by 65% since the last 14-day period and now sits at 64.4.
However, the reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium has increased to 0.83 after being below 0.80 for weeks. While this number remains below 1, which it has for over two months, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down.
As of Wednesday, 71.3% of the adult population in Belgium had received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to almost 6.6 million people.
Of these, over 3.67 million people (39.8% 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 51% of the adult population has been partly vaccinated, resulting in it taking extra steps to speed up its campaign and vaccinate as many people as possible.
The Brussels Times
