The seven-day average number of infections has started to rise again, by 8 percent. In the meantime, 3,032 people with covid-19 are still in hospitals, 930 of whom are in intensive care. Follow the press conference of the National Crisis Center live here.
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Steven Van Gucht: ‘The bright spots of the last few weeks have given way to uncertainty. The descent motor sputters and there is no sharp decline after the peak. In the meantime, we see contamination rates rising by 8 percent while hospital admissions are slightly declining, but not enough to relieve pressure on hospitals. Meanwhile, there are still just over 3,000 people with covid-19 in hospitals, 930 of whom are in intensive care. The number of deaths is still rising slightly. ‘
Last week, an average of 3,884 new infections per day was detected, an increase of 8 percent on a weekly basis. This sudden increase after a decrease is also due to the fact that Easter Monday ends up in the comparison period. We compare the figures of a week with five working days with one of four. We expect this artifact to disappear from the numbers and provide a more accurate picture of the trend. If we do not include Mondays in the comparison, we still see a slightly downward trend of minus 5%. In children and teenagers there is still a downward trend despite the Easter Monday effect. the figures here are 22% and 6% lower than the week before. ‘
‘Most infections occur in people in their twenties and the increase in the figures here is also higher than the average of 18%. There are still striking differences across regions and provinces. In the Brussels Region, the figures are 5% lower than the week before, while in Flanders they are 13% and Wallonia 6% higher. ‘
‘Hospital admissions are slowly continuing to decline. In the past week, there were an average of 240 hospital admissions per day. That is 5% less than the week before. But beware, we are still seeing increases in half of the provinces. We see this in Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, East Flanders and Flemish Brabant. ‘
‘When we look at the total number of beds occupied by covid patients in hospitals, we see that hospital occupancy seems to be topping off, albeit at a very high level. Currently, 3,032 people with Covid-19 are in hospitals. That is just under 3% less than the week before. There are 930 patients in intensive care, which is just under 2% more than a week ago. On Tuesday, April 13, the highest third wave burden was provisionally reported on intensive care units with a peak of 947 patients. It is important to re-emphasize that we must continue to keep the occupancy in intensive care under control, because beds cannot remain indefinitely while being created. ‘
More in a minute.
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