Belgium’s foreign minister and former premier Sophie Wilmes has been taken into intensive care suffering from COVID-19, her office said today.
The 45-year-old, who was prime minister until three weeks ago, is conscious and her condition stable, her spokesman said.
Wilmes said on Saturday she had tested positive and that she had probably caught the virus from a relative rather than at work.
Wilmes led the country through the first six months of the pandemic, then switched jobs after her minority administration was replaced by a majority coalition this month.
Infections and hospital admissions are continuing to rise in Belgium, which has among the world’s highest rate of fatalities per capita from COVID-19.
Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke warned on Sunday of a possible ‘tsunami’ ahead, with the country starting to lose control of the virus.
Belgium is second only to the Czech Republic in Europe in terms of infections per capita in the past two weeks.