The number of coronavirus hospitalisations is rising in Brussels and reached an average of nearly 100 daily new admissions, according to the latest figures on Tuesday.
According to the latest figures from health institute Sciensano, hospitals in Brussels admitted an average of 97 patients each day in the week of the 19th to the 25th of October.
Out of the more than 5,000 patients currently hospitalised with Covid-19 in Belgium, 927 are in a Brussels hospital. As of Tuesday, 151 of them were in the intensive care unit.
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Spiralling daily infections in Brussels have kept the pressure high on the capital's care system, with Sciensano virologist on Monday urging people to keep limiting their social contacts.
Hospitals in the capital region were asked on Monday to prepare to hike up their Covid-19 care capacity and switch to phase 1B by 2 November.
Phase 1B requires hospitals to reserve half of their ICU beds to coronavirus patients, up from a quarter in the current phase 1A.
The move is bound to put the squeeze on hospitals (who have already been asked to postpone non-urgent procedures) by limiting care capacity and resources for non-coronavirus patients who also require critical care.
As the epidemic continues to gain grown throughout the country, soaring infections numbers have bumped out all Brussels municipalities from the top 50 places with the highest incidence rates, or the number of new daily infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
Only three Brussels municipalities now remain among the top 100 with the highest incidence rates in the country: Molenbeek, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe and Koekelberg.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
