‘We have made mistakes,’ says Flemish Minister-President

Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon admitted on Friday that mistakes have been made in handling the crisis caused by the new coronavirus (Covid-19), but stressed that every effort was being made to surmount it.

“I openly admit it. We, too, all governments, we sometimes make mistakes. Experts and politicians are also just human beings, who are doing their best to manage this crisis, which we’ve never experienced before,” Jambon said on Friday in a message to the Flemish population, broadcast on social media.

Net voor het weekend wil ik iedereen nog een hart onder de riem steken. Alleen door te volharden, slaan we ons hierdoor! pic.twitter.com/jlkcLUh0en

— Jan Jambon (@JanJambon) April 17, 2020

Translation: “Just before the weekend, I’d like to encourage everyone. It’s only by persevering that we’ll get through to this!”

“Each day, we are trying to find solutions to end this crisis in a humanly worthy manner, and we shall draw lessons from our mistakes,” the Minister-President said.

In an evident reference to the shelter-in-place and social-distancing measures taken to contain the virus, Jambon noted: “We shall still need to maintain these simple measures for a few weeks.”

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“If, soon, you go to a garden centre or do-it-yourself (DIY) store and see a crowd, return home and go back another time,” the Flemish Prime Minister added.

DIY and garden stores have been authorised to reopen from Saturday. However, not all will be able to do so immediately since some still need time to prepare for the reopening after weeks of inactivity.

In all cases, the social-distancing measures that hold for supermarkets will apply: no more than one customer for every 10 square metres, and a maximum shopping time of 30 minutes per person, as Interior Minister Pieter De Crem recalled in a tweet on Friday.

The Brussels Times