Belgium registers 53,779 COVID-19 cases, death toll at 8,761
Brussels/Xinhua: Belgium has recorded 330 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, pushing the total to 53,779 since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a statement by the public health institute Sciensano released Tuesday.
The new cases confirm the decline observed 48 hours earlier, despite the reopening of shops throughout the country Monday.
In the last 24 hours, 43 new hospitalizations have been confirmed and 35 people have been cured and left hospital. For the first time in two months, the number of new hospitalizations fell below 50. Currently, 465 patients are in intensive care.
As of Tuesday, Belgium has recorded a total of 8,761 fatalities from COVID-19 after a daily rise of 65 deaths, according to the statement.
The latest survey by the Economic Risk Management Group showed that up to 180,000 people may lose their jobs in the short term due to the pandemic. The figure represents almost 6 percent of the labor force in the private sector.
Belgium detected its first case in early February, when one of the nine returnees from Wuhan, China, tested positive. The Belgian was discharged from the Saint-Pierre Hospital in Brussels on Feb. 15 after tests turned negative.
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