All figures indicating the situation of the epidemic in Belgium are slowly decreasing, according to the latest official figures published by the Sciensano public health institute on Thursday.
From 19 to 25 April, the number of new coronavirus cases reported was 3,482, the same as the 7-day average of the week before.
The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is 982,959. This reflects those who have been infected, all confirmed active cases, and those who have since recovered or died as a result of the virus.
Over the past two weeks, 424.1 infections were confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants, a 9% decrease compared to the two weeks before.
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Belgium’s reproduction rate, meanwhile, is continuing to drop, and now stands at 0.89, its lowest in weeks. This means that one person with coronavirus infects on average fewer than one other person and that the epidemic is slowly retreating in Belgium.
From 19 to 25 April, an average number of 39.9 deaths occurred per day, up by 3.3% from the seven-day average of the week before. This brings the total number of deaths in the country since the beginning of the pandemic to 24,140.
Between 22 and 28 April, an average of 205.6 patients was admitted to the hospital per day, which is 4.8 fewer than the average of the week before, and down by 15% from the previous week's average.
The total number of coronavirus patients in hospitals on Wednesday was 2,809, down by 49 from the day before. Of this total, 886 patients were in intensive care units, six fewer than the day before. Meanwhile, 527 patients were on a ventilator, the same as the previous day.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Wednesday that the improvement of the situation in hospitals, which was one of the two requirements for the "outdoor plan" to go ahead, was sufficient to reopen terraces and end the curfew on 8 May.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 12,420,691 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, an average of 44,123.9 was taken per day over the past week, with a positivity rate of 8.8%.
This percentage is down 0.9% since last week's seven-day average while testing increased by 10%.
As of 28 April, a total of 2,798,456 people in Belgium have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 30.5% of the population aged 18 and older.
In addition, 765,793 people – or 8.3% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.
