Covid-19: "Belgium has one of the lowest mortality rates in Europe"
The renowned virologist Steven Van Gucht of the Belgian health institute Sciensano has interpreted the latest corona figures for Belgian in his last 'regular' press conference: "Belgium is not seeing an enormous increase in Covid cases like in the Netherlands, because we manage to keep the balance."
The daily figures are following the latest trend, Van Gucht confirmed: "The number of new cases and hospital admissions is still going up, but at a slower pace each day. This is good news, hopefully the figures can reach a plateau later on."
Belgium is in the middle of the European bunch where new cases are concerned. "We are not seeing a serious hike like in the Netherlands. This is because we manage a delicate balance between strict measures and more relaxations. It is important to keep this balance in the coming weeks, because not everyone has been fully vaccinated."
Mr Van Gucht said that Belgium has one of the lowest mortality rates in Europe at present. "Fatalities are becoming more and more rare. The average is 0.9 per day, i.e. less than one. In July, we already had 8 days without anyone dying from Covid-19. We hope this trend will continue."
This low mortality rate is for a large part due to the vaccination rate, which is among the highest in Europe and the world, especially where the vulnerable population is concerned, Van Gucht underlines. Yesterday, it was announced that more than half of the total Belgian population has been fully vaccinated now. The federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke called this "a milestone".