Category: News

The SIMID  consortium is seeking highly motivated and skilled researchers to join our team at the University of Antwerp (CHERMID). We value diversity and recognize the strength that a multidisciplinary approach brings to our research endeavors. By becoming a member of our team, you will have the invaluable opportunity to collaborate with leading experts in the fields of health economics, epidemiology, and infectious disease modeling. Join us and make a significant contribution to the exciting and rapidly evolving field of health economics by working on a PhD thesis focused on Covid-19 and pandemic preparedness.  More information: PhD candidate in Health Economics with a focus on evaluating Covid-19 response in Europe | (www.uantwerpen.be) PhD candidate in Health Economics with a focus on policy making on Covid-19 vaccination. | (www.uantwerpen.be) Deadline: July…

Graag reageren we vanuit het SIMID consortium op de opmerkingen die verschenen op Twitter eind februari 2023 in verband met de COVID-19 modellen die wij ontwikkeld en toegepast hebben. Hiermee willen we enkele zaken verduidelijken en rechtzetten. Vanuit een wetenschappelijke invalshoek met peer review vatten we dit aan als woord en wederwoord. (more…)

The SIMID consortium prepared a new technical note (v2022-08-31) containing the estimates of a stochastic dynamic transmission model using observational data up to August 23rd, 2022. (more…)

The SIMID COVID-19 modelling team encompasses researchers from Hasselt University (CenStat, DSI) and the University of Antwerp (CHERMID, Vaxinfectio). Please find more info on the DSI website.    

Niel Hens gave a nice interview on television on our current work: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/04/05/biostatistiek-coronavirus-niel-hens/

Given the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, we are are intensively modelling how intervention strategies can fight the spread of the virus using our VSC supercomputers, in collaboration with Researchers Sorbonne Université. See our movie!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0PZukXy8qU&feature=youtu.be

We used a simulation-based model of viral transmission to test the impact of different intervention measures for the control of COVID-19. The use of an antiviral drug, in combination with contact tracing, quarantine and isolation, results in a significant decrease of the mean final size and the peak incidence of local outbreaks of COVID-19, provided delays in contact tracing are small. Integrating antiviral drugs together with contact tracing and quarantine is predicted through this model to be an effective tool for the control of local outbreaks of COVID-19. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.19.20038182v1  

European countries are facing enormous pressure on their healthcare systems as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide a real time overview of the relative pressure on healthcare systems by analyzing the proportion of COVID-19 related deaths and COVID-19 active cases relative to the number of hospital beds, number of medical doctors, and healthcare expenditure, in European countries. More info at www.covid-hcpressure.org

The cost-effectiveness results of typhoid vaccination for 73 Gavi-eligible countries are now available online on Take on Typhoid. The website shows the disease and economic burden of each country, as well as the impact of different typhoid vaccination strategies. The study was published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Elise Kuylen went to the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) to present her work on measles transmission. Tapiwa Ganyani, Pietro Coletti and Lander Willem went to the 7th International Conference on Infectious Diseases Dynamics (Epidemics) to promote ongoing work on overdispersion, flu and RSV. Both conferences were a succes! (more…)