Quentin Dujardin Photo: AFP

A plucky Belgian guitarist fed up with an ongoing COVID-19 ban on giving concerts has turned to performing in churches, where up to 15 people are allowed to congregate if masked and seated far apart.

Quentin Dujardin is relying on that loophole to get around a prohibition on playing in public that could otherwise see him fined 4,000 euros ($4,800), and each member of the audience 250 euros, as part of a law designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

He first tested that ban on February 14 with a protest concert in a small church in southern Belgium. Although police had him prosecuted, a court threw out the case.

"No expert can say that I'm more contagious than a priest," said Dujardin.

The musician - a 43-year-old former choir-boy who has moved from classical to jazz and world music - and many Belgian artists are furious that performances have been banned for nearly six months in Belgium. 

They point to a March 31 ruling by a Brussels court that ordered the government to revise its pandemic law. 

AFP