Tag Archive for: confinement

Moving to Brussels?

We expect the rules  regarding the stay at home measures to be gradually eased as of beginning of May. This is a situation that is evolving rapidly so it is best for expats to stay informed. A vast majority of our residents move to Belgium from abroad and may not always know how to be informed about local news. Expats moving to Brussels maybe curious what the status is in Belgium with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic. In general Belgian hospitals have been coping well, without the overflow sadly witnessed in other parts of the world.

Rules of the Belgian “lockdown” otherwise known as “confinement”

Like it’s European counterparts, the Belgian government imposed a strict stay at home policy as of 18 March 2020. All non-essential workers were instructed to work from home and all offices, retail and non food or pharmaceutical spaces were closed. Residents were asked to stay home while taking one hour a day to exercise with maximum one other person from their household. Borders were closed as of 20 March 2020. We expect the current rules for confinement to be updated on 24 April 2020 with a gradual lifting of the rules anticipated as of 4 May 2020.

Staying Informed

Morton Place Coliving is actively following the guidelines of the Belgian government regarding the the confinement measures which have been put in place. If you are not in Brussels and would like ressources to keep yourself updated the following are good places to get informed.

Belgian Government

Official news and guidelines are published on the official government website of the Belgian Covid-19 Task Force.

Local News Sources

National newspapers are good sources of information and Le Soir seems to have access to most of the government leaks ahead of key announcements. In general the national papers are Le Soir (French), De Standaard (Dutch). Many articles in translation from the flemish papers appear in the  Brussels Times (English) and The Bulletin is a longstanding platform with reliable information relevant to expats.

International

Brussels has consulates from almost all major countries and their websites also feature information relevant to their nationals’ needs. There is a directory of all foreign consulates on the Belgian diplomatic website.