Federal Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) wants to avoid at all costs that our country, just like the Netherlands, goes into lockdown. The new measures should give us the opportunity to buy time against the further advance of the omikron variant, while distributing as many booster doses as possible.
“We absolutely do not want a lockdown, and we want children to be able to go back to school after the Christmas holidays,” said the minister, who emphasizes that omikron still poses a relatively unknown danger. “That is why we are now taking it on the safe side: a broad package of measures with which we can put a brake on the rapid advance of this new virus. Meanwhile, the booster campaign can continue steadily.
Vandenbroucke acknowledges that the measures are “hard and difficult”, both for the cultural sector, as for sports enthusiasts and children who would go to youth camp.
According to the minister, the choice not to introduce stricter measures in the catering industry, but in the cultural sector, is a response to the package of measures that the experts of the GEMS had proposed. That was a two-step plan, in which the cultural sector and the catering industry would have to close in the second step. “We wanted to approach it a little differently: we said, we are going to take a step, but it has to be strong and broad,” it sounds. In addition, it would be a faux-pas to close restaurants and cafes just before the holidays, he says.
But at the same time, stricter supervision is being made to ensure that restaurants and cafes comply with the rules: ventilation, mouth masks for staff, CO2 meters, and the control of the Covid Safe Ticket. Anyone who violates these rules not only risks a fine, but from now on also a closure.
OVERVIEW. This has been decided by the Consultation Committee
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