585 new people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Belgium, confirmed the Federal Public Health Service on Saturday.
This brings the total number of cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic to 52,596. The total reflects all people in Belgium who have been infected, and includes confirmed active cases as well as patients who have since recovered, or died from the consequences of the virus.
407 of the newly-infected people live in Flanders, 129 live in Wallonia, and 45 live in Brussels. The FPS does not yet have further information on the place of residence of four other people.
76 new patients were admitted to the hospital in the last 24 hours, and 210 were discharged. The total number of people in hospital because of the coronavirus at the moment is 2,381.
“The number of confirmed infections is still increasing,” the federal health institute Sciensano said in a press release. “The number of new hospitalisations is stabilising further, but remains quite high. So keep going and follow the general measures, take good care of yourself and others.”
Of the patients in the hospital, 502 are in the intensive care unit, six fewer than yesterday.
In the past 24 hours, 210 people were discharged from hospital, bringing the total so far to 13,411.
76 new deaths have been reported, bringing the total number of people who died because of the coronavirus to 8,581. Of the latest fatalities, 37 were in hospital (48%) and 39 in care homes (51%). Deaths in hospitals are all confirmed coronavirus cases; care homes deaths are only 20% confirmed Covid-19 and 80% presumed.
"Hospital figures are a rather late indicator of the evolution of the virus, because only we can only see this increase about 2 weeks after the initial infections," said Professor Van Gucht earlier.
"We are also observing the absenteeism from work due to illness. We saw a large peak around mid-March, but we also see that now, the figures have dropped back to the level they were at in previous years," he added.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
