BRUSSELS
In Belgium, over the past 24 hours, 1,236 new coronavirus infections and 417 deaths were registered, the country's health authorities announced on Thursday.
This brings the total number of cases to 34,809 and death toll to 4,857, according to the latest data of the Federal Public Service of Health.
Testing in elderly homes
Belgian authorities explained the high numbers by statistical and reporting methods that are more vigorous than in other European countries.
For example, 198 people out of the 417 recently registered victims of COVID-19, were never tested for the coronavirus.
Authorities only highly suspected that based on