COVID-19: Slight rise in the number of new infections
Since the start of the week the public health science institute Sciensano has changed the way in which it communicates figures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium. Previously it provided a summary of the figures relating to the 24 hours prior to its press release. Now the figures are based on a rolling average for the previous 7 days. Sciensano says that this enables trends to be shown more clearly and neutralises factors such as the so-called “weekend effect”.
During the past 7 days there were an average of 92 confirmed new novel coronavirus infections in Belgium. This is 6% higher than was the case during the 7-day period prior to Friday’s press release.
· Over the past 7 days and average of 15 people/day have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19. This is down 15% on the figures for the previous 7-day period.
· An average of 6 people/day have died during the past 7 days. This is down 17% on the previous 7-day period. So far a total of 9,732 people have died of COVID-19 in Belgium.
Our Science Editor Koen Wauters told VRT radio news that "We are still under 100 new infections/day. So there is no need to panic, but we need to remain vigilant”