The number of patients in intensive care units in Belgium as a result of the coronavirus has dropped below 400, according to the latest figures from the Sciensano Public Health Institute updated on Friday morning.
On Thursday, a total of 1,063 people were in hospital as a result of the coronavirus (59 fewer than on Tuesday), of whom 364 (-13) people were being treated in intensive care, and 240 (-9) were on a ventilator.
The number of ICU cases has fallen from 540 in the last two weeks and has now fallen far below the threshold of 500 set by the Consultative Committee as the boundary at which it would be safe to open up more of society starting from next Wednesday.
Today the Consultative Committee will meet to discuss the epidemiological situation in Belgium.
Between 27 May and 2 June, there was an average of 78.1 new hospital admissions per day due to the coronavirus, a 22% decrease compared to the previous reference period, and over 100 fewer than at the start of May.
Between 25 and 31 May, an average of 1,875 new coronavirus infections were detected per day, down by 8% compared to the previous week, continuing a period of almost uninterrupted decline.
Meanwhile, the daily average of testing over the past week decreased by 2% (an average of 47,017.4 tests were carried out) with a positive rate of 4.4% (down by 1%).
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,066,957 cases of coronavirus infection have been diagnosed in Belgium.
During the same period, an average of 13.4 people died per day from the virus (down by 24.2% from the previous week), bringing the total to 24,995 deaths since the start of the pandemic in Belgium.
The incidence, which indicates the average number of new cases per day per 100,000 inhabitants, reached 238.7, down by 21%.
The reproduction rate of the coronavirus in Belgium remains at 0.85 after nearing 0.80 last week. When this number is below 1, it means that the epidemic gradually slowing down. The number has been lower than 1 since 22 April.
As of Thursday, more than half of the adult population in Belgium (52.1%) had received the first injection of a coronavirus vaccine. This figure equates to over 4.8 million people.
Of these, 2,270,506 people (24.6% of the adult population in Belgium) have received a second dose and are considered fully protected.
The Brussels Times
