COVID-19-related deaths continue to decline in Belgium

The number of coronavirus-related deaths continues to decline in Belgium. The public health institute Sciensano reported an average 22.7 deaths per day between Feb. 20 and Feb. 26, 36 percent less than the previous week, said Xinhua.

In the country's nursing and care homes, the number of COVID-19-related deaths decreased by two-thirds, Yves Van Laethem, inter-federal spokesman for the fight against coronavirus, said on Tuesday.

This is a sign of the positive impact of the vaccination campaign in nursing homes that is about to end in Wallonia and has already been completed in Brussels, he said.

The decrease in deaths is significant among people aged 85 and over. "We have a 51 percent decrease in deaths for this category compared to the previous week," Van Laethem said. The respective figure is 32 percent in the 75 to 84 age group.

To date, 495,090 people have received the first vaccine dose. Of them, 307,749 have also received the second dose, according to Sciensano.

Belgium is behind schedule in its vaccination campaign due to delays in vaccine delivery.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 continues to spread in the country. Between Feb. 20 and Feb. 26, Sciensano registered an average 2,394 new cases per day.

Currently, 1,936 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Belgium, 410 of them in intensive care.

To date, Belgium has recorded a total of 772,294 COVID-19 cases and 22,106 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.