The Belgian authorities today begin applying travel restrictions to Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Essuatini, South Africa, Malawi and Zambia. The measure is aimed at preventing the spread of the Ómicron coronavirus variant.

According to Saturday's announcement, the office of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Sammy Mahdi, confirmed that the new travel limitations, which will be evaluated on a weekly basis, will come into effect.

"People residing in Belgium will be able to enter the country, but are required to comply with a 10-day quarantine if they have been in any of the nine referenced countries in the past two weeks," the authorities state.

Thus, Belgium stresses that for the remaining travelers coming from the nine countries the ban on entering the national territory will apply, with the exception of essential workers.