Shops and salons must close as part of stricter coronavirus measures
The federal government has announced new measures to control the spread of Covid-19 as hospitals begin to reach maximum capacity
‘This is a lockdown’
“Our country finds itself in a state of emergency,” said the prime minister at the press conference. “The pressure in the hospitals is immense, and our health-care workers are performing above and beyond the call of duty every single day to save lives. It is incredibly challenging, and in many of our hospitals, the situation is untenable.”
At the current rate of infection, De Croo continued, “some 10,000 of our citizens will be in hospital by mid-November. Of those, 2,800 will need intensive care. Over the past week, 100,000 of our people have tested positive, and we have not yet seen any improvements based on measures already taken. So at this point, there is only one choice, and that is to stand behind our people working in medical care to ensure that the system does not collapse.”
He then announced the new measures, which come into force on Sunday night. They are:
- All non-essential retail outlets must close. Examples include clothing stores, bookshops and furniture outlets. All supermarkets and other food shops remain open, as do DIY outlets and garden centres. “There is no reason to panic-buy,” noted prime minister Alexander De Croo. Retail shops may, if they choose, sell online for delivery or for pick-up.
- All contact-oriented non-essential services outside of medical services must close. Examples include hair salons, massage providers and saunas
- Restaurants and bars in hotels must close. Previously they were open only to hotel guests, but now guests must be served meals in their rooms
- The autumn school holidays are extended to 13 November. The normally week-long holiday, which begins on Monday, had already been extended by two days, up to the 11 November public holiday. It has now been extended an additional two days. When school resumes, years four through six of secondary school (the second and third grades) will take to distance learning 50% of the time.
- Higher education moves to 100% distance learning untile the end of the year, except for lab work and first-year students. They may go back to partial in-class attendance on 1 December.
- Teleworking is required where possible. For companies that cannot operate without employees on site, hygiene regulations must be followed
- Households may invite just one visitor at a time. Previously, everyone was restricted to one close contact but allowed to invite up to four people into their homes, with social distancing respected. Now only the close contact should be invited into the home. This can be a different person every two weeks. Four people can still gather out of doors, with social distancing respected if they are not members of the household or the one close contact
- Holiday parks must close from 3 November
- Funerals are limited to 15 people, and receptions after the service are no longer allowed
Except for the holiday park closures, all the measures come into force at midnight on Sunday evening and last until at least 13 December. The measures apply nation-wide and are in addition to measures already taken over the last few weeks (see below) as Belgium found itself plunging headlong into a second wave.
“These measures are bringing our social lives pretty much to a standstill,” said federal health minister Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A). “That is a lockdown, even if it is a lockdown in which employers remain operational, kids go back to school on 15 November and people aren’t completely isolated. Everyone in a household may have a contact outside the household with whom they do not have to respect the rules. But not with more than one.”
There are currently 6,187 people in hospital due to complications caused by the coronavirus, a 70% increase on the previous week. About one in six people who are hospitalised are in intensive care.
More than 550 people died in Belgium over the last seven days from the virus, more than double the week before. In total, more than 11,308 people in Belgium have died from complications due to Covid-19.
THIS ARTICLE WAS UPDATED ON 31 OCTOBER
Photo ©Benoit Doppagne/BELGA
