Brussels, Belgium: An average of 1,481 new daily infections were identified between August 27 and September 2, decreased by 4 percent seven days, as per the figures published by the Sciensano Institute of Public Health on Tuesday morning.
The average number of tests taken on the daily basis rose slightly since Friday to 7,800, while the positivity rate dropped to 20.4 percent, meaning somewhat over one in five tests have a positive result.
Along with this, the BA.5 Omicron remains the dominant strain, accounting for 93.5 percent of all infections. The strain is mentioned to be no more infectious than the other Omicron subvariants but is effective at circumventing people’s accumulated immunity.
For the time being, an average of 5.4 COVID-19 patients died every day over the last seven days (-25 percent). The active number of deaths in Belgium since the starting of the pandemic is 32,561. This includes people who died of another cause but who were infected, meaning it may be an overestimate of the COVID-19 deaths.
In addition, in the previous seven days, an average of 58.4 patients suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to the hospital each day. There is a 9 percent decrease from the previous seven days.
The current figures only include the number of people hospitalised because of the virus. Meanwhile, a total of 787 people admitted to hospitals in Belgium were infected with the virus on Monday, almost ten more than on Thursday last week.
The number does not include patients admitted with a different condition who later tested positive. The maximum number of COVID-19 patients being treated in intensive care increased slightly since the previous week to 63.
Additionally, as of Saturday, at least 7.2 million people have now received a booster dose of the vaccine, representing 76 percent of over-18s and 62 percent of the entire population, while more than 613,600 individuals have had a second booster dose, which is equivalent to 5 percent of the total population. This group mainly consists of people aged more than 75.
Furthermore, the regions of Belgium will soon start inviting a broader group of the general population for additional booster shots from the end of September month onwards.
