Restaurants and bars in Belgium will open for indoor dining and drinking on June 9, and people who are fully vaccinated will be exempt from testing when they return from abroad, the government said Friday.
“These past months, we have completed a long journey. We have succeeded in transforming a dangerous situation into a favorable outlook for the summer,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at a press conference following a meeting of the country’s Consultative Committee.
The date of June 9 had been flagged in early May and was confirmed Friday. Bars and restaurants will be allowed to open until 11:30 p.m. and current rules on social distancing will continue to apply.
The reopenings planned for June 9 can go ahead as long as a limit of fewer than 500 coronavirus patients in intensive care continues to be met. According to Belgian public health institute Sciensano, the number on Thursday was 364. It has been below the 500 mark since May 27.
When it comes to travel, people returning to Belgium from a country in the so-called red zone who are not fully vaccinated will need to be tested upon arrival, the committee decided. However, people who have been fully vaccinated for at least two weeks will not face testing upon their return.
There will be no quarantine requirement for arrivals from outside Belgium, as long as the traveler is either fully vaccinated, has recovered from COVID-19 or has had a negative PCR test within 72 hours. This is not the case for arrivals from areas considered to be “high risk.”
Large events of up to 75,000 people can be held from August 13, the committee decided.