Following a number of complaints from the education sector, Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke is proposing to temporarily allow children who had a high-risk contract at home but tested negative for the coronavirus, to go to school.
Due to the high infectiousness of the Omicron variant, schools are recording many absences of pupils and teachers - as well as the closure of entire classes - due to infections or quarantines.
To make sure that schools and classes can remain open, Vandenbroucke proposed a temporary adjustment of the current procedure: children who have had a high-risk contact but have not contracted covid would still be able to go to school, reports the Belga News Agency.
For other activities, however, quarantine would remain mandatory.
Children who are infected - symptomatic or not - should still stay at home to protect pupils and teachers as much as possible from infection, said Vandenbroucke.
