Belgium may have passed peak of COVID-19, says spokesman

Belgium may have passed the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, said Emmanuel Andre, an inter-federal spokesman, at a press briefing on the epidemiological situation on Monday.

"There is a slow decrease that is being confirmed," he said.

Belgium reported 168 new deaths from the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, 62 less than Sunday's, bringing the country's death toll to 5,828.

The figures recorded in the last 24 hours are encouraging, the spokesman continued, 232 new hospitalizations have been reported, 33 less than the previous day.

"The results presented today show that we are on a downward trend in COVID-19, thanks to the application of containment measures. We must continue to apply these measures to prepare for future de-confinement," he said.

In the last 24 hours, health authorities have confirmed 1,487 new cases of COVID-19 infection, bringing the nationwide confirmed cases to 39,983 since the first case was detected in the country in early February.