Face masks will become mandatory in public spaces in Brussels if the current trend of rising COVID-19 infections continues, Rudi Vervoort, the city’s minister president, announced Thursday.
Following a meeting of the Regional Security Council, Vervoort said that the threshold level for the tougher rules to kick in is set at 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over 7 days. Currently, the capital is at 38 cases per 100,000, he noted.
“From now on, the measures already in place at the national level will be clearly enforced,” Vervoort said. “We are now in the phase of sanctions. Respect the rules.”
Inge Neven, the city official responsible for health inspection, said that while infections are still rising, the rate had slowed recently.
Belgium has seen a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, which some experts have called a second wave. In Antwerp, authorities have imposed a nighttime curfew.