UPDATE MODIFIED QUARANTINE OBLIGATION FOR CROSS-BORDER MOVEMENTS

• From Monday 21 December 2020, all persons travelling to Belgium after a stay of more than 48 hours in a red zone abroad will be obligated to remain in quarantine for 7 days and to be tested for Covid-19 after 7 days.

However, this quarantine is not mandatory if the self-assessment on the Passenger Locator Form shows that the risk is low. However, the        calculation of the risk score on the Passenger Locator Form will be evaluated more rigorously from now on.

• Proof of submission of the Passenger Locator Form must be carried in the pocket during the entire journey to the final destination Belgium and the following 48 hours.
• From 25 December 2020, proof of a negative Covid-19 test will also become mandatory for:
• all persons who do not have their main residence in Belgium (non-residents) and
• who travel to Belgium after a stay of more than 48 hours abroad.

This test cannot be older than 48 hours.

Before the start of employment in the following sectors:

• Construction sector
• Agriculture and horticulture
• Cleaning sector
• Meat sector

the employer or client must check whether the negative test dates at the earliest 48 hours before the start of the employment of an employee or activities of the self-employed person.

This negative test must be kept in the mandatory contact tracing register.

In the absence of proof of a negative test, the person must be placed in quarantine until a negative test can be presented.

*The above obligations do not apply to frontier workers and other workers or self-employed persons who work and reside in Belgium for less than 48 hours.
**The above obligations always apply to persons travelling by public transport or from a country that is not part of the Schengen area.

• Due to the rapid spread of an infectious variant of the Covid-19 virus in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Belgium imposed a temporary entry ban on persons from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 21 December. Cargo transport remains possible.
• A new Passenger Locator Form would be introduced at the beginning of 2021, were a distinction will be made between professional and private travel.

All updates on the latest travel advice and measures are available at https://diplomatie.belgium.be/en  and  https://www.info-coronavirus.be/en/

We note that the Belgium crisis centrum has a stricter point of view regarding the submission of a negative Covid-19 test, i.e. : all persons without a main residence in Belgium, regardless of the duration of their stay in Belgium, are obliged to submit a negative Covid-19 test if they stayed abroad for more than 48 hours.