All of the major COVID-19 indicators, including the number of new cases and hospitalisations in Belgium, continue to increase, excluding the number of deaths, which is continuously decreasing slightly.
An average of 101.1 patients suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals each day, which has been increased by 32 percent from the previous seven days, as per to the figures published by the Sciensano Institute of Public Health on Tuesday.
The figure, which has been decreased by 100 in mid-May, reflects how many individuals are admitted to the hospital directly because of the virus, not those who are admitted with another condition and have also been tested positive for COVID-19.
On Monday, 1,283 individuals were in Belgian hospitals due to an infection, up by some 200 individuals since Friday. The maximum number of people being treated in intensive care has started to increase slowly and now sits at 72.
This number includes all patients who tested positive for COVID-19 infection, including those who were first admitted with a different condition.
Between 18 and 24 June, an average of 3,826 new daily COVID-19 infections was identified: a 38 percent increase from the last seven days. At the end of May, this figure decreased to below 1,300.
Moreover, the average number of tests taken per day also soared to about 13,000, up by 2,000 since the figures were last updated. At the same time, the positivity rate has increased to 29.2 percent, meaning almost one in three tests has a positive result.
The variant of the COVID-19 Omicron has become the dominant strain accounting for 60.2 percent of all infections. BA.5 is no more or less infectious than the other subtypes of Omicron, but it does succeed very well in circumventing people’s accumulated immunity.
During the same week, an average of 4.4 patients suffering from Covid-19 died on a daily basis, down by 18% from the last week. The total count of deaths in the nation since the start of the pandemic amounts to 31,903.
