Health authorities have recorded 34 new deaths linked to the new coronavirus (Covid-19), bringing the number of people who have died in Belgium since the beginning of the crisis to 122.
Over the past 24h, the number of hospitalisations increased to 1,859 (+256 patients), of which 381 are in intensive care, the FPS Public Health and the Crisis Centre said Tuesday during their daily report.
Some 526 new confirmed cases have been counted since Monday, including 381 in Flanders, 87 in Wallonia and 38 in Brussels. For 20 cases, the geographical origin is not yet known. A total of 4,269 contaminations have been confirmed in Belgium so far.
This data, however, concerns only the cases analysed and therefore does not reflect the exact number of contaminated persons in the country.
Both the number of new cases, new deaths and the number of patients admitted to intensive care have risen again since the previous day. The number of new hospitalisations, however, is down for the second consecutive day. "These figures demonstrate in a very painful way that we are in the middle of the pandemic, in this emergency situation," said Benoît Ramacker, spokesperson for the Crisis Centre.
Concerning the new deaths, which have been on the rise since Monday, some "were notified with delay and can therefore be linked to the situation of the previous days," said virologist Emmanuel André.
The health authorities wished to stress the importance of solidarity in the fight against the virus. "Infection with coronavirus, or other viruses, creates stigma between communities and anxiety. But the virus does not affect one community in particular, and the response to the virus must be one of solidarity: to protect oneself and to protect others."
The Brussels Times
