Masks not required on public transport from Monday

Wearing a mask on public transport will no longer be compulsory from Monday (23 May), Belgium's coronavirus consultative committee has ruled.

Masks will still be required in hospitals, pharmacies and doctor's surgeries, and recommended in "very busy places", or when visiting someone in a nursing home, prime minister Alexander De Croo announced on Friday.

Testing and quarantine requirements for travellers from outside the European Union have also been lifted and the Passenger Locator Form has been scrapped - unless your country of origin is experiencing a new variant of coronavirus.

The "coronavirus barometer" - a three-stage scale from red, to orange, to yellow - which was used to assess the severity of the coronavirus situation in Belgium, will also be phased out.

On average, Belgium recorded 3,536 daily coronavirus cases in the past week - a decline of 19% on the previous seven days. Hospital admissions are down 25%. With an infection rate of 0.84, the virus is currently in decline.