Cafes and restaurants in Belgium will be able to serve their customers indoors from Wednesday, thanks to progress in the fight against the pandemic, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced at a press conference on Friday.
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This reopening, which is part of a plan to gradually lift restrictions in the country, had already been announced on May 11.
However, it remained suspended from the evolution of the circulation of the coronavirus.
"
The positive figures allow us from June 9 to take this first step,
" said Mr. De Croo, after a consultation meeting with various political leaders of the country.
Extension of working hours
He also announced an extension of hours.
Establishments will now be able to open in the morning from 5:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
After almost 7 months of closure, they had reopened conditionally, on the terrace only, since May 8.
"
We are seeing a very sharp drop in the number of people in intensive care
," said De Croo, citing the figure of 341 people for the whole country.
Read also: Covid-19: Belgium closes its borders to travelers from India, Brazil and South Africa
More than 4.8 million Belgians, or 53% of the adult population, have already received at least a first dose of vaccine, he said. Stressing that this campaign was still far from over, he however warned of the danger of more resistant variants of the virus and asked for the continuation of barrier gestures. “
This summer will unfortunately not be like the others yet, but if we respect the ground rules we can really hope to have a pleasant summer. Take advantage of the summer,
”said the Prime Minister.
