Let's protect eachother against respiratory infections.

The number of hospital admissions and deaths continues to increase

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_20200814_EN.pdf

Over the past week, 4240 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Belgium. This means an increase by 9% in comparison to the previous week. This confirms the evolution towards an ever-smaller rise in the number of infections.

We still see the largest number of new infections in the Antwerp province. Over 1,300 new cases were diagnosed in the province last week, accounting for one-third of all cases reported in Belgium. As in the previous days, we notice a steady decline in the number of new cases in Antwerp, with a decrease today by 3% compared with previous week.

Apart from Antwerp, the highest number of new infections can be observed in the Brussels-Capital Region. About 750 new cases were diagnosed there last week. The figures keep growing by about 50%, which doubles the number of new infections every two weeks. In Brussels, we also notice a continued rise in the number of tests performed, with now about 12 tests per 1,000 inhabitants on a daily basis, which is in line with the Belgian average. The positivity rate also continues to increase, reaching nearly 6% last week.

As regards the other provinces, the biggest increase occurs in West Flanders, with a rise by about 50% compared to previous week.

We observe positive evolutions of lower infection rates in the other provinces. In the Liège province, we can see now a decline in the weekly average numbers.

We still notice a continued rise in the number of hospital admissions, with an average of 33 new admissions per day. One month ago, we reported on average 10 new daily admissions.

We also see a significant increase in the number of deaths. While we have recorded an average of 2 to 3 deaths per day over the last few days, sometimes with peaks of up to 5 deaths per day, we have noticed a sharp rise in the number of deaths since the beginning of the week, with 11, 13 and 9 deaths in the first three days of the week, respectively.  Three quarters of the deceased were nursing home residents who died at the hospital or in the nursing home. Most of the deaths were recorded in the provinces of Hainaut and Antwerp.

This increase coincides with the extreme heat conditions and high ozone concentrations in the last few days. We know that, like the coronavirus, heat and ozone mainly affect the elderly and weakest population groups. All these factors may therefore have played a role in the mortality peak observed. However, it is too early to exactly determine the relative contribution of each of them.  We continue to monitor the situation closely.

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: