Let's protect eachother against respiratory infections.

For the first time in a long while, the average number of new cases per week has decreased

1. Trends

The development of the epidemic is monitored by using a 7-day average and in comparison to the infection events of the previous week. This method enables us to clearly show the respective trends, regardless of the fluctuations in the daily figures.

All figures included in this image are available via d34j62pglfm3rr.cloudfront.net/downloads/news/numbers_20200817_EN.pdf

Last week 4018 new cases were identified in Belgium. This is a decrease of 5% compared to the previous week.

After a sustained period of increase since the beginning of July, we can announce today for the first time a decrease in weekly averages. At national level, this would mean that the peak is behind us - at least for the time being

We have reached a turning point in the epidemic, where the focus of the epidemic seems to be shifting from Antwerp to Brussels. In Antwerp, the decline still continues: last week 1119 new cases were diagnosed (a decrease of -24%).

In Brussels, on the other hand, the increase continues with 853 newly diagnosed cases last week (an increase of +48%). In Brussels also**, positive rates continue to increase**, with a positive rate of 6.7% last week. If this continues, Brussels will have a weekly total higher than Antwerp within two days. Already on Wednesday 12 August, we saw that more cases were observed in Brussels than in Antwerp.

In the other provinces the situation is developing extremely favorably. In most of the provinces there is a decrease in the weekly averages. We only see an increase in Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Luxembourg: but these are still low absolute figures and also limited increases, which are levelling off.

The number of new admissions to hospitals continues to rise slowly. Last week, 243 people were admitted to hospital for COVID, an average of 35 per day. This is an increase of +29% over the previous week. This increase is in line with expectations and will probably continue for some time. It is still a small absolute number that keeps the situation in the hospitals under control, with a total of 336 hospitalised patients, 86 of whom are treated in intensive care. The highest patient numbers are recorded in Antwerp and Brussels, which together account for more than half of all new admissions.

There were also 51 deaths last week, twice as many as the week before.

See the complete daily report of the epidemiological situation of COVID-19.

Figures are constantly being updated. Figures for the same period, from different editions of the daily report, may therefore differ slightly.

CURRENT LOCAL INFECTION SITUATION

To track the infection at a local level, visit our website, which shows the situation in each municipality. It contains data on the incidence of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 per municipality based on 3 indicators:

  • 7-day cumulative incidence (number of new infections in the last 7 days divided by the population of the specific municipality, multiplied by 100,000);
  • Number of consecutive days on which at least one new infection was reported;
  • Number of days on which there is an increase in new infections compared to the previous day, over a period of 7 days.

2. Daily figures

The daily figures are available online via the Sciensano COVID-19 dashboard.

The corresponding Open Data records can be downloaded from our website.

Dashboard and datasets are updated daily at 09.00 am.

The number of new infections is also updated at the weekend. The two longer-term indicators, hospital admissions and deaths, are only updated during the week.

The virus has not disappeared from Belgian territory. Keep on following the tips to protect yourself and your family.

If you are ill (fever, coughing, respiratory problems, etc.), then please follow the advice of the FPS Public Health and: