Belgium’s reproduction rate has dropped to 0.98, meaning that one person with coronavirus infects on average fewer than one other person, according to the latest official figures published by the Sciensano public health institute on Sunday.
This means that the epidemic is slowly retreating in Belgium.
From 15 to 21 April, the number of people testing positive per day fell by 1% to 3,622 from the 7-day average of the week before.
The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is 972,041. 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, 442.4 infections were confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants, which is an 11% decrease compared to the two weeks before.
From 15 to 21 April, an average number of 38.9 deaths occurred per day, slightly down by fewer than one compared to the week before, but an important reverse of the previous increases. This brings the total number of deaths in the country since the beginning of the pandemic to 23,990.
Between 18 and 24 April, an average of 234.1 patients were admitted to the hospital per day, 2.3 fewer than the average of the week before. However Saturday figures for hospital admissions are not complete, and the situation may be revised tomorrow.
The total number of coronavirus patients in hospitals on Saturday was 2,853, down by 89 from the day before. Of the total, 875 patients were in intensive care units, down by 26 from the day before. Meanwhile, 544 patients were on a ventilator, unchanged since yesterday.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 12,253,776 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, an average of 41,825.0 were taken per day over the past week, with a positivity rate of 9.6%.
This percentage is down 0.1% since last week's seven-day average, while testing remained unchanged.
As of 24 April, a total of 2,608,673 people in Belgium have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 28.4% of the population aged 18 and older.
In addition, 746,704 people – or 8.1% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.
The Brussels Times
