The federal public health institute Sciensano has announced it will no longer update its daily figures for the state of the epidemic in Belgium on Sundays or Mondays.
“In consultation with the partners involved, the Belgian authorities have decided that, due to the easing pressure of the pandemic, the reporting frequency can be adjusted,” the institute said in a press release.
“From Saturday 26 June, the registration of hospital figures during the weekend may be postponed to Monday. As a result, the COVID-19 figures will no longer be updated on Sundays and Mondays.”
With the average number of hospital admissions now down to 25 a day, people in hospital fewer than 400 and daily average of deaths at 5.3, the registration of figures has become an unnecessary task for hospital staff at weekends.
“To avoid confusion about the status of certain figures, from Sunday 27 June all COVID-19 figures (including the number of infections and tests taken and the vaccination figures) on the Epistat dashboard and in the open datasets will not be updated on Sunday and Monday, and no new daily report will appear on those days at 11 am,” Sciensano says.
Instead, final weekend figures can be consulted every Tuesday morning.
“This decision has no effect on surveillance activities in the context of the current epidemic. We continue to monitor the epidemiological situation closely, relying not on the one-day figures, but on general trends and various indicators.”
The Brussels Times
