People who will travel abroad this summer should not throw all Belgian rules overboard just because they are in another country, health officials stated during a press conference on Friday.
As the Consultative Committee will discuss rules for (returning) travellers this afternoon, virologist and interfederal Covid-19 spokesperson Steven Van Gucht stressed the importance of caution.
"Keep in mind that travelling safely means, first and foremost, obeying the rules that apply in Belgium," he said. "Do not do abroad what you would not do in Belgium. That is the best guarantee for a safe journey."
Additionally, Van Gucht pointed out that while the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant (first detected in India) in Belgium is still limited, its circulating is increasing.
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Despite the call for caution, however, he was also optimistic that Belgium would drop below the symbolic limit of 75 new hospital admissions per day.
"This limit was set as a condition for relaxing the rules as early as November 2020, but the third wave meant that it was never reached," Van Gucht said, adding that it seems like this time we will.
Additionally, a decline in the number of patients in intensive care is also noticeable. "On 9 June, we expect to have 300 occupied beds, well below the proposed threshold of 500 patients in intensive care."
According to Van Gucht, the favourable figures are due to the vaccination campaign, but also to the fact that the basic rules are still being followed.
"Keep this up for a while, as long as the vaccination campaign is not completed," he added.
Today’s Consultative Committee will meet today from 2:00 PM, and will hold a press conference to announce to announce its decisions afterwards, the cabinet of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo confirmed to The Brussels Times. No timing has been communicated yet.
