Covid-19 pandemic: Belgium introduces new social distancing measures

The new measures, which include lowering crowd limits at public events to 100 people indoors and 200 people outdoors, could be sufficient to avoid further restrictions and to ensure children can return to school en masse in September.

Belgium’s prime minister has unveiled a set of drastic social distancing measures aimed at avoiding a new general lockdown amid a surge of Covid-19 infections.

Belgian residents are currently allowed to meet with 15 different people. The measures don’t apply to children under the age of 12. (Representational Image) (Unsplash)

Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes said that from next Wednesday contacts outside family circles will be limited to the same five people over the next four weeks. Belgian residents are currently allowed to meet with 15 different people. The measures don’t apply to children under the age of 12.

Wilmes said the new measures — which also include lowering crowd limits at public events to 100 people indoors and 200 people outdoors — could be sufficient to avoid further restrictions and to ensure children can return to school en masse in September.

Wilmes exhorted people to get back to working remotely when possible, and said shoppers should run errands alone from now on and limit the time they spend in stores to 30 minutes.

After a sharp decline of infections, Belgium has witnessed a surge in the number of confirmed cases over the past three weeks, especially in Antwerp province.

A Belgian retirement home, Jardins de Picardie, were able to soothe themselves when they were allowed to see their loved ones and embrace them through a ‘hug curtain’, installed at the nursing home on June 14.

Several European nations revised their travel advisory when heading to Spain. Under the government’s latest measures dated July 24, “the whole of Lleida province in Catalonia and Huesca province in Aragon are on a red list of areas where travel is prohibited and that require a quarantine for returning travellers,” according to a Reuters report. The country also an orange list of regions, including Catalonia, Aragon, La Rioja, Estremadura, Navarra and the Basque country. Travellers from these regions are recommended to take a test and self-quarantine.

For the vacation-deprived Belgians, Dutch artist Dre Wapenaar created ‘tree tents’, a tear drop-shaped tent hanging from a tree, that people could rent and vacay while ensuring social distancing.

Mandatory face masks

Face masks were made compulsory 2 weeks ago in Belgium’s shops, cinemas, entertainment venues and other indoor spaces. The ruling on mandatory use of masks was in place previously on public transportation, but now has been extended to convention centres, places of worship, museums, libraries and more.

Australia, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal have advised people to keep 1.5m apart to ensure social distancing measures aren’t violated.

-- with inputs from Associated Press

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