National Crisis Centre tells Belgians not to cross the border to get a haircut
At Monday morning’s press conference on the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic in Belgium the National Crisis Centre called on Belgians not to cross the border to visit shops selling non-essential goods or to get a haircut. The Centre’s spokesman Yves Stevens called on Belgians to do their shopping for Saint Nicholas and Christmas gifts at the web shop of a local retailer rather than crossing the border to do so in neighbouring countries.
"We have noticed that it is busier than normal in some municipalities near to the border. Both at home and abroad we should avoid busy shopping streets. Moreover, international contact tracing is very difficult. We strongly advise against making non-essential trips abroad to, for example, to go shopping or visit the hairdressers.”
Mr Stevens added that Belgium’s neighbours imposes a number of conditions to those living in other countries being allowed to enter such as the requirement to provide a negative coronavirus test result or mandatory quarantine. Moreover, strict measures to help curb the spread of the coronavirus are in force there as they are here.
A list of all the rules that are in force in neighbouring countries can be found on the Belgian Foreign Ministry’s website. Anyone that remains outside Belgium for longer than 48 hours is obliged to fill in a form on their return.