The relaxations that were expected to be announced last week could be approved during the Consultative Committee meeting this Friday, according to Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon.
He said that Belgium's infections and hospital admissions are evolving more favourably again, after a particularly high peak of 204 new hospitalisations last Friday, which led the authorities to postpone any possible decisions by a week.
"The agenda of last week will be discussed again this Friday," Jambon said in the Flemish Parliament, adding that "if these figures continue, I think we can speak of a small upsurge of just two or three days."
This means that one of the agenda points will be the possibility of allowing people to have more social contacts for outdoor activities, as was proposed by several Green MPs and supported by a number of experts.
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During the press conference last Friday, Jambon already stated that he hoped that the Committee could "decide on the relaxations that [they] had in mind for that day.”
One relaxation that will not be announced, however, is the lifting of the curfew measure, despite the growing number of voices being raised against it, according to him.
"I myself think the curfew is a drastic measure," Jambon said. "But if we are going to go towards an opening of the hospitality industry, it will always be with a certain closing time. In that case, it might be justifiable to keep this curfew, one hour after the sector closes."
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
