Tests are currently ongoing to determine whether ten people in Wallonia have been infected with the new coronavirus, following the confirmation of positive cases in both Flanders and Wallonia.
The University Hospital in Liège announced that they had detected seven suspected cases of coronavirus on Monday evening, the same day when the count of people currently sickened by the disease jumped from two to seven.
“One of the patients is hospitalised in a non-critical state; another is being examined. The five others are in isolation in their homes,” the hospital said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Samples taken from the seven patients were sent to the reference coronavirus laboratory at KU Leuven university, with the hospital in Liège saying they expected the results by 9:30 AM Tuesday.
On Monday morning three additional suspected cases were reported in the provinces of Liège and Hainaut, two of whom were staying at the Epicura Hospital in Eupen, HLN reports.
The news comes after government officials on Monday announced that Belgium’s coronavirus infection count had reached eight over the weekend, in figures that include a Flemish man who has since been cleared from the virus.
Additional information on the ten suspected cases in Wallonia is expected to be delivered in a daily press conference by health authorities to update on the progression of the virus in Belgium.
A positive result in any of the ten Walloon cases would make the French-speaking region the last in Belgium to be reached by the outbreak which has sickened over 90,000 and killed 3,110 people worldwide, according to the most recent figures by the World Health Organisation.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times