The number of corona patients admitted to hospital continues to increase, as expected. The number of infections is also increasing. Furthermore, the number of deaths is also going up – albeit slightly. The National Crisis Center will provide more information during a press conference at 11 am. Follow it live here.
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‘We have now seen an increase in the number of infections for about nineteen days’, says virologist Steven Van Gucht. ‘The numbers continue to rise, but the pace seems to have slowed slightly over the past three days. It is only with the efforts of everyone that we can stabilize the curve. ‘
Van Gucht says it is striking that the proportionally highest number of infections is recorded among the ten to twenty year olds, closely followed by the twenty to thirty year olds. ‘We find most infections in the first category not so much in the school-going youth, but in young adults who have left secondary school. A clear peak is visible in the eighteen-year-olds. This increase may also have to do with the return from youth camps, Portugal, France, an outbreak in an asylum center and many other sources of infection. ‘
In addition to that evolution, he still sees a significant increase in the older generations. ‘It is precisely that category that is most at risk.’ Most infections were found in the Brussels-Capital Region, an increase of 61 percent compared to the previous week. In Antwerp this is 53 percent. Limburg is a bright spot: the number of infections there remains remarkably low.
Hospital admissions are increasing for the eighteenth day in a row. Yesterday there were 69 new admissions in a day, the highest number since May 20. ‘Current figures indicate a doubling of the number of hospital admissions every ten days. That means that at the beginning of October we can have around a hundred new recordings per day. ‘
The number of patients in intensive care is also increasing.
One in three of the new recordings takes place in Brussels, according to Van Gucht, followed by East Flanders, Hainaut, Antwerp and Liège. ‘
Mortality rates fluctuate around three deaths per day. ‘The numbers remain low, but we have noticed a slight increase from the week before.’
The rising figures are confirmed by a network of general practitioners who collect weekly data for Sciensano. ‘Since the beginning of September, these doctors have seen a sharp increase in the number of consultations for flu-like complaints. Meanwhile, they record about 164 consultations for such complaints per 100,000 inhabitants in the past week. This increase is so strong that it has already crossed the threshold of the flu epidemic. However, no flu virus is circulating at the moment. We do see that 21 percent of this patient test positive for the corona virus. In August this was 12 percent. 25 percent of the covid patients at the poll doctors said they had traveled in the past two weeks. It is not certain that they contracted the virus while traveling. But they suggest that part of the contamination was partly due to returning travelers. That effect is slowly fading away. ‘
Van Gucht warns the students about this. ‘Many students will come together in the cities, which will create a new and very dense network for the virus to spread.’
According to the virologist, the students play an important role in controlling the virus towards the community. ‘It is very important that they continue to follow the basic rules and the regulations drawn up by universities and colleges.’
More in a minute.
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