COVID-19 deaths in Belgium rise by 170 to 7,501

A further 170 people had died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours in Belgium, taking the country's death toll to 7,501, according to fresh figures from the public health institute Sciensano on Wednesday.

Of the 170 new deaths, 69 occurred in hospitals and 98 in rest homes and care homes, according to Sciensano. Of the cumulative 7,501 deaths, 46 percent have occurred in hospitals while 53 percent in rest homes and care homes.

Belgium also confirmed 525 new cases of infection in the last 24 hours, bringing the total cases to 47,859, according to Sciensano.

Also in the 24 hours, 174 more people were admitted to hospital, a slight increase against the previous day. And 340 more people left the hospital cured, raising the total number of recoveries to 11,283.

According to health authorities, the reproduction rate of COVID-19 (commonly referred to as R0) in Belgium stood at 0.79, based on figures collected between April 20 and April 26. That means one person with the coronavirus infects 0.79 others on average.

"It is especially important that this figure remains below 1, which means that a person can only infect one other on average," said Yves Van Laethem, an inter-federal public health spokesman.

As the virus is in a self-extinguishing phase, he said, the lower this figure is, the better the situation will be. "This is why the measures must be strictly followed at the moment," Van Laethem added.