(Credit: Visit Brussels)

Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has decided to suspend the reopening of theme parks and amateur sports.

The country plans to reopen restaurants, bars, gyms, and cinemas on May 1, 2021, pending the epidemiological situation.

“It is clear that we have decisive weeks ahead of us,” said De Croo. “As much as we would like it, the coronavirus has not gone away.”

Belgium’s Prime Minister urged citizens to limit their contacts and strictly adhere to COVID-19 measures. Top Belgium’s epidemiologists warned that after a long plateau phase, Belgium is on the brink of a third wave of COVID-19  infections. The new variants have been spreading throughout the country, with the aggressive Kent B.1.1.7 variant present in 70 percent of samples.

Theaters and opera houses are closed, and La Monnaie / De Munt has turned to streaming. The opera house still plans the premiere of Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” for April 27, 2021.

Belgium logged 2,232 new cases of COVID-19 on March 22, 2021.