BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) Belgium intends to lift the ban on optional, including tourist, trips outside of the country, introduced at the year start over the threat of new coronavirus strains' spread, by April 1, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said.
Earlier, the European Commission criticized restrictions on border crossing within the European Union imposed by a number of countries, including Germany and Belgium, due to the COVID-19 situation.
According to De Croo, the Belgian authorities will soon prepare and send a response to the European Commission, in which they will indicate that the restrictions are "temporary in nature and concern only optional travel."
Instead of a travel ban, the Belgian Federal authorities are proposing that the regions negotiate stricter quarantine and testing rules.
"We will have another tool that will allow us to restrict unnecessary travel," the Belgian prime minister explained.
Belgium currently records 2,300 new cases of coronavirus daily. More than 22,000 people have died in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
