Paulette Lenert Urges Standardised COVID-19 Data Collection, Testing, Statistics across EU Member States

Luxembourg's Minister of Health Paulette Lenert advocated a standardised COVID-19 pandemic plan at the European level during the informal meeting of health ministers of the European Union (EU).

During this videoconference meeting dedicated to the coronavirus pandemic, Health Minister Paulette Lenert argued in favour of a pandemic plan at the European level as well as the creation of a rapid action taskforce composed of experts in epidemiology and public health within the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). 

Minister Paulette Lenert stressed: "The mandate of this Centre [ECDC] must be reinforced in order to allow standardised and high-quality data collection, which is essential for informed decision-making".

According to Luxembourg's Ministry of Health, the COVID-19 crisis has brought back the diverging approaches of EU Member States regarding data management, thus complicating the possibility of an objective and coherent comparison of the situation across European countries to get an idea of real incidence of the pandemic.

After presenting Luxembourg's ambitious test strategy, developed in accordance with the recommendations of the European Commission and the ECDC, Minister Paulette Lenert made a fervent appeal to her counterparts to avoid restrictions on movement or border controls based on analyses of incomplete data. She concluded: "The ECDC must include in its statistics the ratio of tests carried out compared to the population as well as the positivity rate".