More than 100 people are being hospitalised per day in Belgium as a result of the coronavirus, as the rise in new Covid-19 infections continues its course.
Between 16 and 22 October, on average 101.1 patients suffering from Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals per day, a 67% increase since the previous week, according to the latest figures published by the Sciensano Public Health Institute on Saturday morning.
On Friday, a total of 1,032 people were in hospitals due to an infection (35 more than on Thursday), including 250 patients being treated in intensive care (+18), with 115 on a ventilator (-6).
The sudden increase in coronavirus infections is continuing, as between 13 and 19 October, an average of 4,036 new coronavirus infections were identified every day – a 65% increase from the previous seven days.
Although this increase could be explained by the fact that the average number of tests taken has doubled since last week (54,109), the positivity rate itself has also risen, now sitting at 7.5%, up by 1.9% since last week - the highest rate since April.
During the same period, an average of 13 people died per day from the virus, up 18% from last week. This brings the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in Belgium to 25,846.
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The virus reproduction rate has meanwhile skyrocketed to 1.37, a 29% increase compared to last week's average. This figure represents the average number of people infected by each infected person, and when it is above 1, it means that the epidemic is gaining ground in Belgium.
The incidence, which indicates the number of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, has decreased slightly and now sits at 393.6 over the past 14 days, up by 69%.
As of Thursday, more than 8.66 million people in Belgium have received a first dose of the vaccine, representing 87% of the adult population, and 75% of the total population.
Meanwhile, more than 8.51 million people are fully vaccinated, accounting for 86% of the adult population in Belgium, and 74% of the total population.
Belgium has also started administering booster doses of coronavirus vaccines to people from certain vulnerable groups to keep the protection against the coronavirus sufficiently high. As of Thursday, almost 480,000 people had received such a dose.
