From Friday, travellers with a valid vaccination, recovery or test certificate entering Belgium will no longer have to quarantine or get tested upon arrival, announced the Interministerial Conference (IMC) on Health.
The relaxation of the testing and quarantine rules comes on top of the simplified measures announced at the Consultative Committee last Friday, the IMC clarified in a press release on Wednesday.
The relaxation concerns all travellers – both Belgian and non-Belgian residents – holding a valid certificate, and removes the obligation to be tested on day 1 or 7 after entering Belgium. Until now, this was still necessary for travellers coming from a non-EU red zone.
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However, residents who do not have one of these certificates returning to Belgium from a country with "an unfavourable epidemiological situation" must still undergo a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) or PCR test on day 1 after arrival in Belgium. These countries include those with a 'dark red' colour code on the ECDC's coronavirus travel map as well as non-EU countries that are not on the white list.
On Friday, the Consultative Committee already decided that non-Belgian travellers must always be able to prove that they have been vaccinated, recovered or recently tested negative before entering Belgium.
For anyone entering Belgium from a country or region with a new 'Variant of Concern' (VOC), the current testing and quarantine rules remain unchanged.
All Belgium's new travel rules will go into force on Friday 18 February, alongside a series of other relaxations coming into effect as the country moves into 'code orange' on its barometer.
