Sharjah24 – AFP: Belgium will allow restaurants, cafes to reopen outdoor eating and drinking areas on May 8, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference on Wednesday.
The country will also on Sunday end a blanket ban on non-essential travel abroad, but only for trips to other EU countries, and testing and quarantine requirements remain in place.
And a nighttime curfew will be lifted from May 8, with a condition that groups were no bigger than three people, he said.
The decisions, taken in a meeting of federal and regional ministers, eases a measure that has kept restaurants and bars closed to all but takeaway for the past six months.
"This is a prudent and realistic approach," De Croo said.
Other measures eased included allowing two guests to be invited into homes, up from one previously, and up to 10 people to gather outdoors, up from four.
The decisions come against the backdrop of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Belgium.
Infections have dropped slightly over the past three weeks but there was still a daily average of 3,452 over the past week.
That was well below the peak of 15,000 daily cases recorded in October just before the closure of bars and eateries.
The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has been rising since mid-February and now stands at 945, and there has been a daily average of 43.4 deaths over the past week.
Vaccinations have accelerated in the country since the end of March, with 1.9 million of the 11.5 million population having received at least a first dose.
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