From the maximum number of new COVID-19 cases to the number of patients being treated in intensive care and hospitals, all of the major indicators of the pandemic continue to decrease in Belgium.
An average of 2,299 new daily COVID-19 infections were identified, which is a 35 per cent decrease from the previous seven days, as well as the lowest since mid-October in the last year between 17 to 23 May, as per the figures that the Sciensano Institute of Public Health has published on Friday.
The positivity rate now sits at 17.1 per cent, meaning fewer than one in five tests have a positive result. The highly transmissible Omicron variant, Omicron BA.2, still accounts for 98.1 per cent of all cases.
In the same week, an average of 7.6 patients suffering from COVID-19 died on a daily basis, a decrease by 24 per cent from the previous week, as well as the lowest since the start of October in the last year. The total number of casualties in Belgium since the pandemic amounts to 31,727.
This figure includes individuals who died of another reason of death but who happened to be infected, which means that there may be an overestimate of COVID-19 deaths that were caused by the virus.
The situation in the health care centres of Belgium, an average of 73.6 patients suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to the hospitals each day, and it has been decreased by 20 per cent from the previous seven days.
The figure reflects that the majority of individuals are in hospitals directly because of the virus, not the people that are admitted with another condition and then has been tested positive for COVID-19.
In addition, the maximum number of 1,101 individuals were in Belgium hospitals because of an infection, 120 fewer than Tuesday. In contrast, the number of people being treated in intensive care sits at 86, the lowest since July previous year.
Furthermore, this number covers all of the patients who have been tested positive for COVID-19, including those who were admitted with a different condition.
