Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès announced new measures to tackle coronavirus after a long meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday evening.

All school lessons will be suspended starting Monday. However, the government called on citizens not to rely on grandparents to look after children. Schools will be responsible for providing care when parents have no choice but to work and for those who work in health care. The suspension of classes is until April 3, which is the start of the Easter holidays. Daycare facilities remain open until further notice.

All recreational activities are canceled. Restaurants and bars will have to close. Shops can stay open during the week but will have to close on weekends, except for pharmacies and grocery stores. All citizens are advised to work from home if possible and elderly people are advised to stay home.

Public transport will continue to run.

The measures will go into effect from Friday into Saturday.

Wilmès stressed that even though the measures were severe in a bid to contain the spread of the virus, Belgium is not in lockdown.

Across the country of 11 million people, the virus has so far caused three deaths and 399 people have tested positive.

Intra-Belgian discussions

The meeting took much longer than expected. There was disagreement between Flemish and French-speaking politicians on how to handle the crisis, as was also the case at a meeting earlier this week.

Whereas French-speaking politicians wanted to close down all schools in Belgium, as is now the case in France, Flemish politicians were more reluctant to do so, fearing an economic shock. A compromise was found by suspending all classes but not closing all schools.

After the press conference, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon stressed that schools are not shutting down completely. “Closing all schools would be a problem for people who work in the health sector or for parents whose children can only be cared for by grandparents. That is precisely the most vulnerable group. Parents who can’t find a solution for their children can still rely on schools.”

There are no measures announced yet to address the economic consequences. “The first priority was the health of our citizens,” said Jambon. “We’ll certainly have to address the economic consequences as soon as possible.”

At the start of the meeting, Wilmès announced that the federal government has activated the federal disaster plan, which can be applied during a crisis that touches upon the entire society. The federal government is now in charge of coordinating all actions. Wilmès said that “cooperation and coordinators are the keys to success” and that all “levels of government have to make sure the measures are applied.”

On Wednesday, Bart De Wever, the party president of the Flemish nationalist N-VA, had criticized the response of the federal government and asked for clearer information.