The coronavirus situation in hospitals in Belgium remains critical, as there were 933 coronavirus patients in intensive care units on Sunday, according to the latest official figures published by the Sciensano public health institute on Monday.
Between 12 and 18 April, an average of 234.4 patients was admitted to the hospital per day, a decrease of 8% compared to the week before.
In total, 3,000 coronavirus patients were in hospital on Sunday, 89 more than the day before, and 933 patients were in intensive care units, again, up by 9 since the day before. Meanwhile, 555 patients were on a ventilator, 11 more than the previous day.
This number “will have to fall rapidly,” before Belgium can consider reopening terraces, which is expected to happen on 8 May, according to biostatistician Geert Molenberghs.
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From 9 to 15 April, an average of 3,529 new people tested positive per day, down by 1% from the 7-day average of the week before.
The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is 949,996. 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 as a result of the virus.
Over the past two weeks, 432.3 infections were confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a 23% decrease compared to the two weeks before.
From 9 to 15 April, an average number of 38.9 deaths occurred per day, marking a 9.6% decrease compared to the week before. This brings the total number of deaths in the country since the beginning of the pandemic to 23,747.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 11,985,089 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, an average of 40,729.1 was taken per day over the past week, with a positivity rate of 9.9%.
This percentage has increased by 1% since last week's seven-day average, while testing decreased by 10%.
As of 18 April, a total of 2,260,513 people in Belgium have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 24.6% of the population aged 18 and older.
In addition, 704,248 people – or 7.6% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.
The reproduction rate, meanwhile, is 0.95, meaning that one person with coronavirus infects on average less than one other person and that the epidemic is slowly declining in Belgium.
Lauren Walker
The Brussels Times
