Virus: Belgium shuts down to community members from the UK

Brussels | Belgium will ban entry to non-citizen travelers from European Union countries from the United Kingdom in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus that has forced London to delay the latest lifting of restrictions in England.

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The UK (4,620,968 cases, including 127,970 dead) is on the list of 27 countries targeted by this closure of the Belgian borders which must come into effect no later than June 27, Jan Eckmanns told AFP on Saturday. Vandenbrooke.

Belgium (1,078,679 cases, including 25,125 deaths) is concerned about the delta variant, which emerged in India and which has led to an increase in Covid-19 cases on British soil that the lifting of the last restriction measures scheduled for June 21 in the England (each country in the kingdom has its own calendar) has been postponed for four weeks.

Thanks to this strengthening of Belgian measures, which have already been applied to South Africa, India and Brazil, only EU citizens and Belgian residents coming from the countries on the list will be able to enter Belgium. They will have to adhere to strict quarantine rules and undergo screening tests.

The government said the only exceptions to this ban: diplomats on an essential mission and transport personnel.

The delta variant at this point accounts for 6.1% of the pollution in Belgium, according to the latest statistics, but some studies suggest that the true rate is higher.

Travelers from the UK must already, even before the measures announced on Saturday go into effect, have the essential nature of their trip to be able to enter Belgium.

The decision to tighten restrictions on arrivals from 27 countries was taken at a meeting of the government committee in charge of combating COVID-19 on Friday and is scheduled to be published in the Official Gazette in the coming days.

The United Kingdom and Georgia are the only two countries in Europe on this list, which also includes Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jordan, Qatar, Nepal, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Bangladesh, Uganda and Argentina. Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Suriname, Peru and Pakistan.