Coronavirus in Europe

Belgium in lockdown as from Monday due to covid-19 pandemic

31 Oct, 2020

As from 2 November to 13 December shops and offices will be closed due to the decision of the Belgium government to impose a new lockdown.

As from Monday Belgium will be back in lockdown: "These are heavy measures, these are last chance measures," Prime Minister Alexander De Croo explained in the evening after a meeting with the Emergency Committee. Illustrating the restrictions, reminiscent of those imposed on Wednesday by Emmanuel Macron in France, the government added: "We want to avoid finding ourselves in a situation where doctors will have to choose between who lives and who dies".

Belgium is the European country with the highest rate of infection, in the last 14 days 1,390 per 100 thousand inhabitants. The number of daily admissions has now exceeded those of the March peak and in some areas of the country, such as Liège, the health authorities have ordered doctors who are asymptomatically ill with coronavirus to return to hospitals to treat the sick.

"We want confinement, not isolation," said De Croo, explaining that each household will be able to have contact with only one person, always the same, during the lockdown. Singles will be able to see two people, but not at the same time. Outside, groups of only four people are allowed. Travel abroad is not recommended. A maximum of 15 people may attend a funeral, but without a reception. However, the government wanted to make it clear that this is a real confinement: "It's tough, it's a lockdown," stressed Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke.