In Belgium, there is a new Security Council on the menu on Wednesday, then we will know whether stricter measures will also be taken by us.
Biostatistician Geert Molenberghs hopes that the Security Council will carefully study the situation in the countries around us. “We can hardly do our policy in thin air, without taking our neighboring countries into account. I hope that the reality check will be carefully reviewed. Because there is an enormous split between the European countries, both in terms of infections and measures. Latvia, Finland or Cyprus, for example, are in the top of the class, Spain, on the other hand, is lagging behind, with an incidence of 270 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. In Madrid, one in four tests is positive. ” By way of comparison: in Belgium there are 102 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
In most countries they make the same analysis, he says: “The cause of the flare-up is due to our social contacts in informal circles and to returning travelers. That is one more reason to keep a close eye on the neighboring countries, we for example, must be much more afraid of Spain than of Italy. “
Molenberghs also sees that they are now taking more regional measures in many parts of Europe. “That framework has also existed with us since the summer and has already been applied, just think of Antwerp. We could do that again now, for example in the province of Liège or in Brussels.”
“Comparing Belgium with Finland would not be fair, but we would do our best to mirror Germany. Nobody is perfect, but Germany is a realistic example, a much better example than Spain or France. They have been managing the epidemic for all these months. I think we have actually not studied the German example enough. “
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