The main coronavirus indicators, including the average daily infections and the average number of hospitalisations, are continuing to drop, according to the latest official figures published by the Sciensano public health institute on Tuesday.
From 10 to 16 April, an average of 3,448 new people tested positive per day, down by 2% from the 7-day average of the week before.
The total number of confirmed cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic is 951,626. 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, 423.9 infections were confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants, which is a 24% decrease compared to the two weeks before.
From 10 to 16 April, an average number of 39 deaths occurred per day, marking an 8.7% decrease compared to the week before. This brings the total number of deaths in the country since the beginning of the pandemic to 23,782.
Between 13 and 19 April, an average of 232.6 patients was admitted to the hospital per day, a decrease of 8% compared to the week before.
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However, the total number of coronavirus patients in hospitals on Monday went up to 3,114, up by 114 from the day before, and 938 patients were in intensive care units, again, up by five since the day before. Meanwhile, 557 patients were on a ventilator, two more than the previous day.
The relaxations planned for 8 May, including the lifting of curfews and the reopening of terraces, are in part subject to the situation in hospitals having “sustainably improved," however the government hasn't clarified what this entails.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 12,004,992 tests have been carried out. Of those tests, an average of 39,970.3 was taken per day over the past week, with a positivity rate of 9.8%.
This percentage has increased by 0.4% since last week's seven-day average, while testing decreased by 6%.
As of 18 April, a total of 2,290,268 people in Belgium have received at least one dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, or 24.9% of the population aged 18 and older.
In addition, 710,858 people – or 7.7% of the adult population – have been fully vaccinated.
The reproduction rate, meanwhile, is 0.96, 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
