Last week Kranti told us how she and her roommates have been organizing movie nights during the lockdown. This week she talks about how she thinks the next few months will be. If you want to know more about Kranti, click here to read her bio.
Press the play button and find out if things will change in the near future for Kranti.
Current situation in Belgium 31-05-2020
The number of COVID-19 cases had been increasing slowly for the last few weeks. The situation seems to be more under control. This week there have been 1289 new cases and 196 COVID-19 related deaths. Belgium has a phased approach to ease the restrictions.
Since May 25 there has been more relaxations. Some students can get part-time one on one arts and music courses from academies again. This will only be allowed for students for whom it is crucial important to get classes, for example because they have to take a crucial exam in the near future. And for the first time in ten weeks prisoners are now allowed to have one visitor per week.
At the start of this project there were 45.325 cases of COVID-19 in Belgium, a month later there are 58.381 active cases.
More relaxation on visits
People will be able to visit patients in hospitals again from the 2nd of June. Hospitals have to decide themselves how they will do this in a safe way. Likely conditions will include a maximum number of visitors per patient.
It is also allowed to visit family members in neighboring countries, however France decided to keep its borders with Belgium closed.
Illegal gatherings by prince and MP
Belgium Prince Joachim, nephew of King Philippe, was caught at an illegal party in Spain which was attended by 27 people. Despite border regulations he was able to fly to Madrid and enter the country. Joachim should have stayed in quarantine for two weeks, but instead he took a train to Andalusia. To make matters worse, he tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday the 30th of May. After his diagnosis, Joachim apologized for not having respected all quarantine measures.
Earlies this week Federal Member of Parliament Dries van Langehove was also caught at an illegal lockdown party. Van Langehove is from a right-wing populist political party called Vlaams Belang. After noise complaints the police checked a building in Ghent an they found about ten people. This is illegal in Belgium because of the corona measures. Van Langehove said he realized it was a mistake to attend the party and he payed the fine of 250 euros. Van Langehove also mentioned he did not appreciate the way journalists handled this news, and that they should have contacted him sooner.
Increase in fraud and sextortion
According to the Economic Affairs Department of Belgium, there has been an increase in the numer of fraud that is reported. The Department received twice as many reports in April than usual. This year there are 154 reports a day, last year during the same month this was 43 per day. Striking is the sharp increase in sexual extortion, in April 1.300 people reported that they were threatened by someone who claimed to share their nude images.
These people received fake emails that their computer was hacked, and that they have been spied on with their webcam when they supposedly visited porn websites. The Economic Affairs Minister told newspaper De Zondag: “Although the link with the lockdown has not been established, it goes without saying that the perpetrators of such scams are relying on an increase in the consumption of pornographic content during this period”.
More than a month ago the number of deaths caused by corona in Belgium was 6.917, in the last few weeks this has risen till 9.476.
Extras
This year may be the sunniest spring recorded in history in Belgium. Read this article for more information.
Curious how busy it got since the ease of restrictions? Take a look at this live cam of the market square in Bruges.
A Flemish school decided to start teaching outside in their garden by using tents. According to the school it is a good way to maintain social distancing. Watch this video and see how it is to go to school in a garden.
The University Hospital of Antwerp started using robots to screen patients. Curious how it works? Take a look at this video.
Previous stories on Belgium:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Manel van Nieuwland 
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