The number of new coronavirus infections on average per day in Belgium has dropped below 500 for the first time since August last year, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute published on Monday morning.
Between 11 and 17 June, an average of 499 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 45% compared to the previous week.
Meanwhile, the daily average of testing over the past week decreased by 6% (an average of 38,652.3 tests were carried out) with a positivity rate of 1.7% (down by 1%).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,079,415 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.
During the same period, an average of 6.1 people died per day from the virus (down by 28% from the previous week), bringing the total to 25,136 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.
Between 14 and 20 June, there was an average of 33.6 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 32% decrease compared to the previous reference period. On Sunday, this figure also reached its lowest point since September this week.
On Sunday, a total of 458 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (34 fewer than on Saturday), of whom 204 (+1) people were being treated in intensive care, and 120 (-5) were on a ventilator.
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, has more than halved (-56%) since the last 14-day period and has now reached 84.2.
Meanwhile, the reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium has risen by 3% to 0.78. While this number remains below 1, which it has for over two months, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down.
As of Saturday, 67.9% of the adult population in Belgium had received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to almost 6.27 million people.
Of these, 3,504,854 people (38% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are now considered fully protected.
