Facts and figures about those hospitalised with COVID-19 in Belgium
During Friday morning’s National Crisis Council press conference the virologist Steven Van Gucht gave the results of a study on those that have been hospitalised with COVID-19 since the start of the novel coronavirus epidemic in Belgium three months ago.
Professor Van Gucht told the press conference that the median age of those that have been hospitalised is 71. He added that the median age of those requiring treatment on intensive care wards is 65. Meanwhile, half of those that have died from COVID-19 in Belgian hospitals are older than 82, the other half are younger than this.
Interestingly, the average age of patients admitted to Belgian hospitals with COVID-19 has risen considerably since early April. “This ties in with the big outbreak in care homes”, Professor Van Gucht explained”.
Those that end up in hospital are admitted an average of 5 days after having first displayed symptoms of the virus. The average hospital stay for a COVID-19 patient is 8 days. However, this has been up to 84 days. The average stay on an intensive care ward is also 8 days. The long period a COVID-19 patient has spent on a Belgian intensive care ward so far is 67 days.
22% of those that have been hospitalised with COVID-19 have died. This is the case with 42% of the patients that have been treated in intensive care.
Professor Van Gucht concluded by saying that "The biggest risk factors are advanced years, heart, lung and kidney conditions, diabetes, and issues with the immune system”.