The Corona Commissioner's office, which was responsible for the coordination of Belgium's coronavirus policy and drawing up advice reports to the authorities, will stop its work on 8 April.
While the GEMS expert group will continue to give advice on how to move forward to the Government, the Commissariat will no longer be necessary now that the crisis is under control, according to reports in Het Nieuwsblad, which Corona Commissioner Pedro Facon confirmed to VRT.
"The epidemiological situation makes it possible to phase out crisis management, also in terms of crisis coordination," Facon said, adding that he has been making preparations to transfer his assignments to the country's Crisis Centre and Federal Publis Health Service.
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Meanwhile, the GEMS expert group – which is to assist the Consultative Committee – will continue to provide advice on crisis management.
"We are entering a longer period of quiet lower numbers, then we will hear less from the GEMS," GEMS member and biostatistician Geert Molenberghs told VRT. "But imagine that there is a flare-up of the virus in the autumn because a new variant appears for example, the GEMS will issue advice on going to a certain colour code."
On Friday, the Consultative Committee will meet again, and is expected to switch to 'code yellow' on the coronavirus barometer, meaning a lot of measures would be lifted.
An in-depth overview of the different colour codes on the coronavirus barometer can be found here.
