Virologist Emmanuel André expressed criticism on Thursday over the way Belgium is monitoring the coronavirus epidemic, while the number of infections has continued to rise in recent days.
André used to serve as the francophone interfederal spokesman giving daily updates on the coronavirus figures and later briefly headed the interfederal contact tracing task force.
Les chiffres lissés dans le temps et l’espace par @sciensano ne sont pas suffisamment précis pour suivre l’évolution rapide de l’épidémie dans plusieurs zones du pays. Il est plus que temps de changer de mode de surveillance pour éviter un phénomène de caisses de raisonnance.
— Emmanuel André (@Emmanuel_microb) July 16, 2020
"The figures smoothed over in time and space by Sciensano are not precise enough to follow the rapid evolution of the epidemic in several areas of the country. It is high time to change the surveillance mode to avoid an echo chamber phenomenon," André tweeted.
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During the period from 6 to 12 July, the number of confirmed cases increased by 12% compared to the previous week, with an average of 99.7 new infections per day, the Federal Public Health Service said Thursday on the basis of statistics from the public health institute Sciensano. Hospital admissions and deaths, meanwhile, continue to decrease.
The Brussels Times