Nicolas Maeterlinck

590 COVID-19 patients admitted to Belgian hospitals on Saturday

The public health science institute Sciensano has released the latest figures on the coronavirus pandemic in Belgium. They show another big increase in the number of people being hospitalised with COVID-19.

·        On Saturday 590 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to Belgian hospitals. This is the second highest daily number of hospital admissions since the start of the public health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus. The highest number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital in one day so far was on 28 March when 629 patients were admitted. Meanwhile, 361 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospital on Saturday.

·        The 7-day rolling average number of daily hospital admissions stands at 433/day. This is up 85% on the 7-day rolling average for the previous week.

·        There are currently 4,401 COVID-19 patients in Belgian hospitals. 708 of these are on intensive care wards. 372 patients are on ventilators.

·        On Friday 74 people died of the virus. This brings the 7-day rolling average of COVID-19 fatalities to 39 deaths/day.

·        Up until now there have been 10,737 deaths from COVID-19 in Belgium.

·        During the week from 15 to 21 October an average of 11,891 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus every day. This is 50% more than the 7-day rolling average for the previous week.

A total of 18.3% of the coronavirus test carried out produced a positive result. The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers positivity ratios higher than 5% to be “problematic”. 

Top stories