Correspondent in Brussels.
No partial re-containment or compulsory vaccination for caregivers, but a return to old anti-Covid measures and a call for respect for barrier gestures.
Belgium on Wednesday announced provisions intended to contain the fourth wave of coronavirus.
"
We want to prevent and protect rather than lock up
", summarized the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, inviting all Belgians to limit their contacts.
The situation is very worrying in this country of 11 million inhabitants.
Nearly 10,300 cases and 240 daily hospitalizations were recorded on average between November 7 and 13.
Over the same period, the number of beds occupied in intensive care has doubled.
And the latest figures delivered during Wednesday's meeting by Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke are even more worrying.
Some 19,300 new Covid cases, 300 hospitalizations and 45 deaths were recorded on Monday.
“It's a blast,”
he said.
Legal analysis
The new measures will apply from Saturday.
Concretely, teleworking becomes compulsory, initially 4 days a week.
This was previously a recommendation.
But it was little followed.
As proof that the noose is tightening on this issue, letters aiming to enforce this recommendation had already been sent in recent days to officials of the federal administration.
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Wearing a mask becomes compulsory indoors for those over 10 years old, including in places where the health pass is requested.
You will have to put the mask back on in bars and restaurants, as soon as you are not seated.
The same goes for nightclubs, except when they ask their customers for a self-test in addition to the health pass.
The issue of vaccination was also discussed at length.
There will indeed be a third dose of vaccine for the entire Belgian population.
It must be issued by March or April 2022. Nothing, however, on the obligation of vaccination of nursing staff.
Their dismissal, in the event of refusal, was envisaged.
But calls for a strike had been launched by several unions.
Obviously, the Belgian authorities wanted to give themselves a little more time.
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As for compulsory vaccination for the entire population, the debate is now open.
Several parties are calling for it, starting with the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking Socialists.
“For us, compulsory vaccination, from the age of 18, is the only coherent solution.
I know this is a difficult debate, but I do not want an absurd Austrian situation.
Situation where we do not impose compulsory vaccination but where we confine the unvaccinated ”
, explained at the beginning of the week Paul Magnette, president of the French-speaking PS.
The federal government is much more careful.
It is
"a false good idea"
ruled Alexander de Croo, explaining that the vaccination obligation is very difficult to implement.
A legal, ethical and epidemiological analysis will nevertheless be carried out.