Travelers returning from Central and Eastern Europe are particularly affected, says Geert Molenberghs.
Around 2,500 to 5,000 people who traveled during the winter holidays returned to Belgium with a coronavirus infection, biostatistician Geert Molenberghs (UHasselt and KU Leuven) estimated in Mediahuis newspapers on Friday.
According to Geert Molenberghs, 80,000 people filled out a “Passenger Locator Form” during the second week of the Christmas holidays. Only 11% were tested and 3.7% of them were positive for Covid-19. “If you extrapolate this percentage to all 80,000 travelers, we arrive at 3,000 infections. But there are also many travelers who have not completed this form“, Comments the biostatistician. According to his estimates, the number of infected can therefore reach 5,000 people.
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The percentages of infection vary by region, with 13% infected in particular for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. “The nature of the trip was also often different: it was not about people staying in a vacation home, but going to visit family members and therefore had close contact.“, Geert Molenberghs analyzes. The figures show that it is crucial to respect the quarantine period, he emphasizes.
Belga – Photo: Nicolas Maeterlinck / Belga
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