Belgium has reported for an average of 2,521 new daily COVID-19 infections between August 2 and 8, down 30% from the last seven days, as per figures shared by the Sciensano Institute of Public Health on Friday morning.
The average number of tests taken on a regular basis has decreased to 10,200, around 1,000 fewer than on Tuesday, while the positivity rate was 27.6% meaning slightly more than one in four tests have a positive result.
Omicron BA.5 remains the dominant strain, which accounts for 27.6% of all infections. The strain is referred to be no more or less infectious as compared to the other Omicron subvariants but is proven effective at circumventing people’s accumulated immunity.
Resulting which, the number of casualties due to the virus has also decreased, with 9.6 COVID-19 patients dying each day over the last seven days(-14% from the last week), while the total number of deaths since the starting of the pandemic has been 32,364.
This includes people who died of another reason but who were infected, meaning it is an overestimate of COVID-19 deaths.
During the last seven days, an average of 99.4 patients suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals each day- a 16% decrease from the last seven days. It is only inclusive of the people hospitalised due to the virus.
On Thursday, a total of 1,352 people were in Belgian hospitals due to an infection, 300 fewer than on Tuesday last week, while the number of people being treated in ICU has plummeted to 94 after rising to 124 on Tuesday. This number includes patients admitted with a different condition who later tested positive.
