On Friday the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, announced that despite a slight improvement in the COVID19 health situation, the country will remain on the Covid 4 alert level.

However, a couple of important decisions were announced.

Non-essential stores to reopen

Non-essential stores can reopen from 1 December under strict hygiene conditions. This will require strict observance of basic rules, such as washing hands, keeping one's distance, and all customers wearing masks; prevention measures to be clearly articulated and visible to all visitors including staff and suppliers; hand disinfectant gel must be available at the shop entrance and all shoppers must disinfect their hands; store staff must receive appropriate training; all shopping will be done individually with one adult per shopping session with accompanying children (up to and including age 18) being limited as much as possible; any store visit should be as brief as possible with a maximum of 30 minutes; each store will be responsible for managing any queue system outside the store to ensure correct social distancing and compliance with local authority directives.

The number of customers allowed in any store will relate to the type of store and its accessible surface area. For stores, the standard of one customer per 10 m² of accessible surface will apply with stores of less than 20 m² able to welcome a maximum of two customers at any one time. Department stores of more than 400 m² must provide for access control and access to shopping centres, shopping streets and car parks will be organized by the relevant municipal authorities to ensure respect for social distancing rules.

Museums and swimming pools can also open according to their own sector protocols.

Christmas period

During the Christmas period, the rules relating to social contacts will remain in force. For the sake of psychosocial well-being, single people can invite their two close contacts at the same time, either on 24 or 25 December.

For outdoor gatherings, the rule of four still applies.

The curfew between midnight and 5 a.m. will remain in effect, as does the general ban on gatherings. A general ban on the sale and use of fireworks over the Christmas festive period also applies.