A coronavirus patient in Brussels has become the first in a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) to have recovered sufficiently to be taken off an artificial respirator and leave the ICU.
"Today we are hopeful," said, Manu Malbrain, head of the ICU in UZ Brussel university hospital in Jette, as he announced the news on Twitter.
Malbrain shared a picture of the patient giving a thumbs-up with his back to the camera, and said that the man he had been extubated on Saturday.
Today we are hopeful: our first #COVID19 #COVID19BE patient that was mechanically ventilated has been extubated yesterday and is now leaving the ICU! Thumbs up ? pic.twitter.com/2rLIB6Uy3H
— Manu Malbrain (@Manu_Malbrain) March 29, 2020
A spokesperson for the hospital did not immediately reply to a request for comment, but according to Malbrain's tweet, the man is the first in the university hospital to be allowed to leave the ICU.
According to the latest figures shared by health officials on Monday, there are currently 1,263 Covid-19 patients in Brussels out of more than 11,000 cases detected nation-wide.
As Malbrain announced the man's discharge from the ICU, authorities announced that there were still a total of 927 Covid-19 patients in the ICU, out of whom 696 required breathing assistance.
In the period between 15 and 29 March, a total of 1,527 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital, bringing the total number of current hospitalisations to 4,524.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
