The Coronalert application launched last year has made “no contribution” to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, said medical professor Jan De Maeseneer (UGent) at a hearing in the Flemish parliament on Wednesday.
Karine Moykens, head of the Interfederal Testing and Tracing Committee, told the Flemish parliament that she did not agree with this analysis.
Moykens said the application can be an important “complementary instrument” in the coming months.
But according to De Maeseneer, its contribution thus far cannot be proven.
“There is no scientific evidence for this,” De Maeseneer said.
“If we really wanted it to have an impact, it should have been made compulsory, as it was in Singapore.”
The Flemish Parliament was discussing the issue of contact tracing on Wednesday, as the Flemish government recently decided to extend the system applied in Flanders until the end of November.
The Coronalert app has been downloaded 2.7 million times and has been presented as a weapon in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus.
The Brussels Times
