Compulsory quarantine reintroduced by Belgium for all international travelers who wish to enter the country during the year-end period considered profoundly affected by the Coronavirus situation.
After evaluating the current COVID-19 situation, the decision has been taken by the head of the Interfederal Testing & Tracing Committee, Karine Moykens,
She also revealed that “From December 18, all travelers will still have to fill in the Passenger Locator Form (PLF), but people coming from a red zone will also be required to go into quarantine for ten days, with a test on day seven. If the test is negative, you can leave quarantine,”
Persons who spent up to 48 hours abroad were required to fill in the Passenger Locator Form (PLF), which is a form that requires persons detailed information regarding what they did while abroad. Then, based on the form, travelers received a text message informing them if they had to go under quarantine or not.
However, the head of the Interfederal Testing & Tracing Committee said that this is about to change again now.
Moykens pointed out that from December 18, Belgium authorities would start to examine if returning passengers are following quarantine rules upon their return. Still, she did not specify if self-isolation would become compulsory for all persons, not only for those coming from high-risk countries.
“From December 18, we will check if people follow the rules. This may not have been the case in August, but it is now. We have the staff for it,” Moykens highlighted.
Belgium registered 859 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, based on statistics published by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
As yet, a total of 594,572 persons have contracted the deadly virus in Belgium, while 17,507 persons have died, according to the data published by Worldometers.
From the COVID-19 disease have been recovered 40,258 persons, while there are more than 536,807 active cases.
In this regard, the biostatistician Geert Molenberghs stressed that if COVID-19 infections do not decrease further, Belgium’s government should start considering to tighten up its preventive measures once again.
