Van Gucht: "Less pronounced rise in the number of infections, hospital admission are rising more quickly”
The number of people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Belgium continues to rise. During the week between 15 and 21 September the number of new infections was up by 48% on the previous week. However, the virologist Steven Van Gucht has told VRT News that the rise in the number of people testing positive for the virus is now less pronounced than was the case a few days ago.
“The number of infections is still on the rise, but the increase appears to be less pronounced than it was a few days ago. We are now looking at a doubling in the number of new infections every 12 days, whereas then there was a twofold increase every 7 or 8 days”.
Nevertheless, Professor Van Gucht added that the figures are still high “On Thursday 16 September and Monday 21 Septembers we were at almost 2,000 new infections”.
The number of new infections is still increasing in all age demographics, but the largest increase is among younger people. “During the past week half of all new infections were among people that are younger than 33. We ask all young people and students that are in digs to be extra careful around vulnerable people and to always keep their distance especially if they are visting their grandparents”.
The increase appears to be less pronounced among teenagers, but among the over 70’s the number of new infections has doubled “And this gives particular cause for concern”.
What also is of concern to Professor Van Gucht is the rise in the number of hospital admissions "The number of hospital admission is rising more quickly than the number of infections”. During the week between 18 and 24 September there were 60% more hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients than was the case during theweek between 11 and 17 September”. On Thursday 24 September 84 people with COVID-19 were admitted to Belgian hospitals “this is a level that we had seen since the start of May”, Professor Van Gucht told VRT News.