Belgium records over 900,000 COVID-19 cases

A total of 900,996 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Belgium, official figures published on Monday by the Sciensano public health institute showed, reported Xinhua.

Belgium, with a population of more than 11 million, has recorded a total of 23,169 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Since April 1, Belgium has returned to a partial lockdown, with shops and hairdressers closed once again after the infection rate increased rapidly.

However, a Brussels court ruling on Wednesday has ordered the government to lift "all coronavirus measures" within 30 days, as the legal basis for them is "insufficient."

The vaccination roll-out started in December in Belgium. Until April 1, more than 1.9 million doses of vaccine have been administered across the country, according to Sciensano.

Besides the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines, 269 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 85 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on April 2.