As the coronavirus situation in Belgium continues to worsen, the entire country has retained its dark red colour in the latest update of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)’s map.
In last week Thursday's update of the map, Flanders turned darker, joining Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region, visualising the fourth wave that is now ongoing in Belgium.
More than 2,000 people are in hospitals due to a Covid-19 infection in Belgium, while more than 8,200 new coronavirus infections are being recorded on a daily basis on average.
Every Thursday, the ECDC publishes its map with colour codes based on the number of infections and the percentage of positive tests in the past 14 days, and the dark red colour indicates that more than 500 infections per 100,000 inhabitants have been detected over the past two weeks.
Updated ? maps are online!
These maps aim to support the @EUCouncil recommendation on travel measures in the EU during #COVID19 pandemic. Color-blind friendly map in the next tweet.https://t.co/CcBVx6B0o5 pic.twitter.com/fcGcZiDL2W — ECDC (@ECDC_EU) November 11, 2021
Since last week, the Netherlands has also coloured almost entirely dark red as it is facing a rising number of cases, while more regions in Germany, which is entirely red, are now also coloured dark red.
Italy has lost several of its green regions and has gained a red region in the south, while Spain's border with France has turned from orange to red. France itself remains largely orange, however, the Pays de la Loire region has now coloured red, the first region to do so again.
The situation in northern Europe has remained similar to last week's, as most of Sweden, Finland and Norway remain red. However, the latter country's northern regions have turned dark red.
In Eastern Europe, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania remain dark red, as do Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria.
Austria has turned largely dark red as well, while most regions in Greece, where some islands were still orange, have coloured red and dark red.
Restricted travel?
Member States cannot impose extra restrictions on travellers coming from a green area, but they can demand a negative test and/or quarantine for unvaccinated people coming from orange or red zones.
As the coronavirus situation across the bloc worsens, the European Commission stressed EU countries should not impose travel restrictions on people who have valid travel certificates who are fully vaccinated, following announcements by winter sports destinations France and Austria that stricter measures could be implemented.
The Commission stressed that anyone who has received two doses of the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, must be allowed in all European countries unless there is a serious outbreak of the virus locally.
However, countries can decide to impose stricter conditions nationally when it comes to entry requirements to for example bars, restaurants, cinemas, museums and gyms, as many have started to do.
