The maximum number of COVID-19 infections continues to increase at a steady rate, with over 6,000 new cases confirmed per day and a total of more than 1,600 patients in the hospital.
Between June 28 and July 4, an average of 6,271 new daily COVID-19 infections were reported. There was a 43 per cent increase from the previous seven days, as per the Sciensano Institute of Public Health, on Friday morning.
The average number of tests per day also increased to more than 20,600, and it has increased by 37 per cent since the figures were in the previous update on Tuesday. The positive rate has increased slightly to 30.8 percent, which means almost one in three tests has a positive result.
The variant of COVID-19 Omicron BA.5 has become the dominant strain, accounting for 73.5 percent of all infections. BA.5 is said to be no more or less infectious than the other Omicron subvariants, but it does very well in circumventing an individual’s accumulated immunity.
Along with this, deaths as a result of infection are now also rising more rapidly, as an average of 8.7 patients suffering from COVID-19 died each day over the previous seven days. It has increased by 45 percent from the last week.
The maximum number of cases of death in Belgium from the start of the pandemic amounts to 31,977. However, this figure includes individuals who died of another reason but who happened to be infected, meaning that this is an overestimate of deaths attributed to COVID-19.
In the previous seven days, an average of 138.7 patients suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals each day, which has increased by 27 percent from the last seven days.
In addition, the figure, which was last above 100 in mid-May, reflects how many people are hospitalised directly because of the virus, not those admitted with another condition and then also test positive for COVID-19.
