It does not look like the Flemish will be able to celebrate Christmas in a traditional way this year. The Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A) made this clear to the southern neighbors in De Zevende Dag on Sunday. A. In the meantime, the government has published a list of stores that can remain open permanently from Monday for the next six weeks. The current lockdown measures will run until mid-December. 

unfair competition

All contact professions, such as beauty salons, hairdressers and nail salons, must close. On the other hand, food stores and DIY stores and garden centers can remain open. It remains difficult to avoid unfair competition for the next six weeks. Shops such as Idea and residential boulevards must keep their doors closed. 

Stores designated as essential stores will not be able to sell some items for the next six weeks. This includes furniture, garden furniture, BBQ appliances, large kitchen utensils, mobile heaters, decorative items, multimedia, electronics, toys, clothing, footwear, telecom accessories, jewelry, leather goods, sports goods and the like. These stores are allowed to sell online. Ordering online and picking up in store therefore remains a dilemma.

beautiful Christmas anything but certain

It is far from certain that there will be major easing by Christmas. According to Vandenbroucke, the situation is much worse than that in Germany and worse than the British situation. There are now almost 6.500 people in hospital. 1.160 of them are in intensive care. Every day, an average of 102 people now die from the virus, which is also an increase. 

Also read: Lockdown necessary to maybe celebrate Christmas together