Consultative Committee meeting postpones as Belgium’s COVID-19 situation remains yellow

The meeting of the Consultative Committee will not go ahead on Friday, as the figures do not yet allow Belgium’s latest Covid-19 measures to be reconsidered.

The regional governments were due to reunite at the Consultative Committee to discuss the revocation of current Covid-19 measures on Friday. Since the national barometer switched to code yellow on 7 March, most measures have already been removed except for masks on public transport and in healthcare institutions.

The governments were originally meant to meet on 25 March to evaluate the situation, but the meeting was postponed to this Friday to await the evolution of the Covid-19 crisis.

Now, it has been once again postponed, the cabinet of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo confirmed.

The intention of the next meeting is to abolish the barometer entirely, which the numbers do not allow for yet, the government says.

The meeting may happen in the coming few weeks, meaning masks could become completely redundant, although when exactly that is not yet certain.

The GEMS Covid-19 advisory group, which has since been dissolved, has warned against abandoning the barometer completely, as it advised on 8 April to consider returning to code orange in case the numbers would surge.