Coronavirus cases in Belgium top 40,000, death toll nears 6,000

Belgium reported 973 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the last 24 hours, raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases from 39,983 to 40,956 by Tuesday morning, according to fresh figures from the public health institute Sciensano.

In the same 24-hour span, 170 new deaths were reported, of which 89 occurred in hospitals and 80 in out-of-hospital facilities such as nursing homes. This raised Belgium's death toll to 5,998.

"The number of new deaths in both hospitals and nursing homes is decreasing," which is a positive sign, according to Belgian health authorities.

Belgium's National Security Council, which decided on the lockdown measures to contain the new coronavirus as well as their extensions until May 3, is scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss possible de-confinement measures.