Let's protect eachother against respiratory infections.

Number of new infections stabilizing, but with significant regional disparities

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_20200812_EN.pdf

The number of new infections in the period from 2 to 8 August has increased by 12% compared to the previous week (26.07. to 01.08.). On average, 604.1 persons per day tested positive for COVID-19 during this period. In the week before, this was 537.6.

However, for a few days now, we have been seeing that this increase is levelling off and that the exponential growth seems to have been broken. Below this average, however, there are significant regional differences. In the provinces of Antwerp, Limburg and Luxembourg we see that the curves are decreasing.

In the province of Antwerp, where one third of all infections occur, we see a decrease of 3%.

On the other hand, the strongest increase can currently be observed in the Brussels-Capital Region. The weekly average has risen there by 57%. This increase is slightly less than a week ago, but still worrying.

If this increase continues, Brussels will reach the current infection level in the province of Antwerp within two weeks. In the other provinces we are seeing increases between 20 and 50%. The provinces of Liège and East Flanders stand out in particular, each with around 400 new cases per week.

Last week, the hospitals admitted an average of 32.6 new COVID patients per day.

Yesterday, 48 new hospital admissions were also registered, 11 of them in Antwerp and 12 in the Brussels-Capital Region. This is the highest number of new admissions since the end of May. This should remind us that the virus is still dangerous, although it is clear that we are not experiencing the same dramatic situations today as in March and April.

Last week, an average of 3.7 people per day also died with COVID-19.

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: