In Brussels, the proportion of people who test positive for coronavirus is nearly twice as high as the national average, based on data from the Sciensano public health institute.
Over the last seven days for which data are available, 13.8% of people tested in the capital turned out to be infected with Covid-19, which makes a 3.6% increase compared to the week before, while the national average is of 7.3%.
Belgium’s three most infected municipalities are all in Brussels, with Molenbeek-Saint-Jean registering an incidence of 770 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last two weeks, followed by Koekelberg (660) and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (629). The commune of Ganshoren is also in the country’s top ten, with an incidence of 614.
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Recently virologist Marc Van Ranst compared the situation in Brussels to that of Paris. The French capital was placed on high alert and bars were closed for two weeks among other measures. Van Ranst thinks extra measures should be applied in Brussels as well, according to Bruzz.
Meanwhile, the city’s hospital beds are filling up, with 260 coronavirus patients of which 55 are in the intensive care unit.
Van Ranst and infectious diseases expert Erika Vlieghe have both warned that an increase in the number of deaths is imminent as hospitalisations increase across the country.
The region has counted 20,789 confirmed cases, out of a total 132,203 for the whole country.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
