A meeting of the Belgian authorities on Friday 8 January discussed the current epidemiological situation that has been moving in a positive direction for several weeks in the country. The meeting noted that the number of infections is slowly decreasing. However, despite this general downward trend, the reproduction rate is again slightly increasing (Rt = 1.004) and the occupancy of intensive care beds also remains at a high level. In addition, it is still too early to assess the possible negative impact of residents returning from other countries, the end-of-year celebrations and the reopening of schools.

In this context the authorities made the following decisions:

• Mandatory teleworking will continue and there will be more controls at the workplaces of workers who must respect a quarantine.
• Non-essential travel is still strongly discouraged. There will be more checks on compliance with the testing and quarantine requirements after non-essential travel. Controls will also be stepped up when travellers return to the roads. The current travel rules will remain applicable at least until after the Carnival holidays in mid-February.
• The vaccination programme is accelerating. The task force in charge of vaccination will be asked to speed up the vaccination rate and make the process more efficient.
• There will be more tests. Health ministers and the Testing task force are tasked with increasing the number of PCR tests and antigen tests as part of the current testing capacity.
• Vigilance in schools. The authorities believe there will be a need to be more attentive to health and quarantine measures among children of school age, in particular children who are attending school in neighbouring countries who are experiencing a less favourable epidemiological situation currently.

More information (in French) here.