Belgium is now accepting NHS Covid vaccination certificates from England and Wales, and from Friday allows fully vaccinated travellers to enter the country without mandatory quarantine for 10 days.
“All the necessary adjustments to the scan-app and the backend to be able to read and validate certificates issued in England and Wales have been made,” announced Belgian health minister Frank Vandenbroucke in a statement.
The U.K. allowed fully vaccinated travellers to enter the country from the EU and U.S. without having to quarantine from August 2. In return, Belgium is now easing travel restrictions for people from England and Wales who have been jabbed with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency.
The health minister said the team who developed Belgium’s health pass can now validate the NHS app. Belgium only recognizes the NHS vaccine certificate from England and Wales, however, as Scotland and Northern Ireland use their own vaccine certificates.
Some restrictions on travel from the U.K. remain in place in Belgium: Even fully vaccinated travellers using the NHS app have to take a coronavirus test on day one or two after arrival and quarantine until results are given. For people without a U.K. vaccine certificate, quarantine rules still apply.
All travellers must register with a Passenger Locater Form, even if they have been vaccinated.