20/03/2020 (Agence Europe) – The Belgian Interior Minister, Pieter de Crem, announced that the Belgian government had put in place, on Friday 20 March at 3 p.m., controls at the country’s borders, including the one with the Netherlands, where 700 people had been prevented from coming to Belgium, according to Belga. Only essential travel is allowed, but all travel to secondary residences is prohibited under the measures decided upon. Unlike Belgium, the Dutch government has not imposed any containment requirements. When questioned, the Commission had not received a mid-day notification. It should be noted that traffic within Schengen has largely “improved” over the weekend, the Commission said on 20 March, with problems at the border between Germany and Poland in particular having been resolved. A meeting of Interior Ministers on the same day confirmed this improvement, according to one source. (SP)