BRUSSELS (AP) – Belgium is banning all holiday travel abroad for its citizens from next week and until March, in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19 and its virulent variants.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday that “when people travel, the virus comes with them.”
He said visitors from Great Britain, South Africa and South America have to be quarantined for ten days to make sure they don’t bring dangerous variants to Belgium.
The move came a day after the 27 leaders of the European Union said borders within the bloc should remain open to ensure essential transportation and movement of workers, but left it to member states to take any other action they saw fit .
In Belgium, only essential business travel, family travel and humanitarian travel are allowed from next week to March. In the past year, Belgium has seen a spike in cases after popular holidays due to repeat travelers. February is the traditional month for Belgians to ski in the Alps or to fly south for warmth.
The EU itself is also preparing measures to make travel more difficult, including the introduction of new cross-border “dark red zones” where the number of infections is particularly high and where all unnecessary travel should be discouraged. Travelers from these areas may be required to undergo tests before departure and be placed in isolation at another location on arrival.
Belgium, one of the worst affected countries in Europe, has reported more than 686,000 confirmed infections and 20,620 deaths related to the coronavirus.
In recent weeks, Belgium has been able to control the spread of the virus better than many other EU countries, and De Croo said he did not want to jeopardize this by allowing holiday travel during the critical next month.
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