The leader of the right-wing party N-VA and mayor of Antwerp, Bart de Wever, said on Sunday that Belgium could transition to ‘code yellow’ on the coronavirus barometer quite quickly after ‘code orange’ is set to kick in on 18 February.
Code yellow signifies that the epidemiological situation and pressure on the country's hospitals is under control, with less than 65 daily admissions per day and fewer than 300 patients occupying intensive care beds.
For the hospitality and event sector, that would mean an end to early closing times, no more requirement to show the Covid Safe Ticket (CST), no requirement to wear a face mask, and no restrictions on customer capacity.
All measures implemented in the fight against the coronavirus will be reviewed at the next Consultative Committee meeting planned in early March. This includes the contentious facemask mandate in secondary schools, Health minister Vandenbroucke said on the “C’est pas tous les jours Dimanche” programme on RTL.
From next weekend, the requirement to wear facemasks in shops, public transport and schools would only apply to persons aged 12 years and above. Primary school students will thus be exempted.
