testing - The Corona Diaries

A numbers man’s nightmare

06/10/202016/10/2020 Belgium, COVID-19, Iran, John Magufuli, Luxembourg, North Korea, Sciensano, Tanzania, testing, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom

There are those countries deliberately doctoring their COVID-19 data to look better. Other countries had to revise their figures because of unintentional, administrative mistakes. And then there is Belgium.

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Across the border

29/08/202022/11/2020 Belgium, COVID-19, Frontier workers, infections, Luxembourg, testing

Looking at June and July, Luxembourg seems to have a 4 to 5 times higher corona incidence rate than Belgium. But how fair is the comparison? A detailed look, with a strange idea.

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Testing in the Hexagon

23/08/202027/08/2020 COVID-19, France, PCR, positivity rate, SIDEP, SPF, testing

Mid-May, the French government had launched a new corona testing strategy. Key objectives were to rapidly identify 75% of all cases and to realize 700,000 tests a week. 3 months down the stretch, how does France’s testing fare?

Featured 1 Numbers

A lower mortality rate: fact or artifact?

15/08/202016/10/2020 Apache, deaths, infections, positivity rate, testing, vaccine, virus mutation

On June 29, the pandemic hit two milestones in one go: 10,000,000 infections and 500,000 deaths. Just 43 days later, the number of infections had also passed the 20 million mark. But while the positive cases had doubled, the death toll had only risen by 47%. Are we really looking at a decreasing mortality rate? Or is it merely a matter of more testing?