Belgium may have reached “the peak of the second wave,” Head of Viral Diseases at the Belgian Health Authority Professor Steven Van Gucht said on Friday.
Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, he said, “This may mark the peak of the second wave. The number of infections continues to fall slightly, and hospital admissions appear to be decreasing slightly for the first time.”
He added that “the number of deaths is still very high, but here too we see the pace slowing down slightly.”
Professor Van Gucht also warned that “despite this decrease, the number of infections is still very high. The infection rate in Belgium is still among the highest in Europe, together with Czechia.”
Data from the Belgian Health Authority, Sciensano, shows that on October 27 the number of new cases reported reached a peak of 22,171. Since then, the number of new cases has consistently fallen with the latest consolidated data showing 13,345 new cases reported on Tuesday, November 2.
On average in the last week, 13,213 new cases were reported each day, compared to the previous week when there were 16,067 new cases reported each day.
Since the beginning of the pandemic Belgium has recorded 479,341 cases of coronavirus and 12,520 deaths.
To allow for delays in receiving data from the regions, it takes four days for figures from the Belgian Health Authority to be finalized.
