Belgium’s National Security Council (NSC) will meet on Monday 27 July, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès announced on Twitter on Saturday.
The next National Security Council meeting was initially set for Friday but was moved forward.
Infectious disease expert Erika Vlieghe called for daily assessments on Friday, biostatistician Geert Molenberghs stressed that time was running out and, on Saturday, Health Minister Maggie De Block’s spokesperson said that she also wanted the National Security Council to meet earlier.
They were joined by people in academia and the medical world in their pleas. University of Ghent rector Rik Van de Walle launched a hashtag, #NVRnu (’NSC now’) that went viral.
Van de Walle’s hashtag was the number one trending topic on Twitter as of 5:00 PM on Saturday.
