By Marine Strauss
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgium on Thursday reported a steep rise in COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations back to levels last experienced in October 2020, three days after the United States advised its citizens against travelling to the country that hosts EU and NATO headquarters.
Data from Belgium’s Sciensano health institute showed 6,728 daily new cases on average in the last 14 days, up 36% from the previous week. An average of 164 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals daily in the last seven days, a 31% increase, and 343 patients were in intensive care.
Belgium went into its second coronavirus lockdown in October 2020, a few days after recording similar hospitalisation numbers.
On Monday, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) added Belgium to its highest risk level, discouraging international travel there for those not fully vaccinated.
“Because of the current situation in Belgium, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” it said.
There are nine other EU countries on the U.S. maximum COVID risk level including Austria, Britain, Croatia, Greece and the Baltic countries.
More than 8.6 million people in Belgium have been fully vaccinated, 74% of its population. But the country has eased face mask requirements in recent months and is now facing a fresh spike in infections as winter nears.
So far in the nearly two years of the pandemic, Belgium has had one of the world’s highest per capita mortality rates, mostly due to deaths in care homes in the first wave.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss @StraussMarine, Editing by Gabriela Baczynska and John Stonestreet)
