More than 7,000 people have died after being infected by the novel coronavirus in Belgium, the country’s crisis centre said in a statement on Sunday.

“A total of 7,094 people have died, an increase of 178 in the last 24 hours,” the statement said. “With regard to these 178 deaths, 75 have occurred in hospital and 103 in a rest and care home.”
Belgian Health authorities say the number of hospitalized patients is “slowly decreasing,” with only 204 new patients admitted in the past 24 hours — a total of 3,959 people have been admitted since the outbreak began.

The number of patients in intensive care units (ICU) went down by 43 in the past 24 hours. There are now 891 patients in ICUs across the country.

“The number of new hospitalizations is stabilizing, but remains fairly high. So persevere and follow the general measures, take good care of yourself and of others,” the statement added, cautioning however that the number of infections in the country is “still increasing.”

In the past 24 hours, 809 new cases were reported, bringing the total of confirmed infections to 46,134.