Belgium, in contrast to other European countries, also counts deaths for any case for where a doctor suspects coronavirus was involved — which may inflate the tally and make it look worse than some neighbors. Britain, for example, would only count deaths that have occurred after 28 days of a positive test.

Over the last 14 days, Belgium’s cumulative number of Covid-19 deaths was the second highest in Europe, only topped by the Czech Republic.

The health emergency is so acute that some severely ill Covid-19 patients have reportedly been transferred to Germany. Brussels hit its capacity in terms of intensive care units two days ago.

Nationally, there were 7,405 Covid patients in hospital on Wednesday; 1,412 of whom in intensive care, RTBF reported on Thursday. The number of maximum available beds in intensive care is 2,000, the TV channel also reported.