Belgium fears virus "tsunami" as virus cases keep soaring
by Samuel Petrequin
Bars and restaurants across Belgium shut down for a month and a night-time curfew took effect Monday as health authorities warned of a possible "tsunami" of new virus cases in the hard-hit nation that host the European Union's headquarters.
The new measures aim to limit social interactions to slow down the exponential growth of the pandemic in the nation of 11.5 million people. The new surge of coronavirus cases has already prompted several hospitals to delay nonessential operations to focus on treating COVID-19 cases.
"We are really very close to a tsunami," Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke told broadcaster RTL.
According to AP figures based on data collected by Johns Hopkins University, Belgium recorded an average of 73.95 daily cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, the second-worst record in the EU behind the Czech Republic.
Yves Van Laethem, the COVID-19 crisis center spokesman, said Monday that 7,876 daily new cases were diagnosed on average over the past seven days, up 79% compared with the previous week. Van Laethem said the epidemiological situation could be even worse, given delays in the publication of test results.
To fight the spread of the disease, Belgium's curfew will be enforced from midnight until 5 a.m., at least for a month. Alcohol sales will be banned after 8 p.m., while the number of people that residents can see socially outside their households will be reduced from three to just one all month.
People have been ordered to work from home wherever possible. Thousands of students have been affected as several universities have demanded that only one seat in five in lecture halls hosting more than 50 people can be occupied.
As of Monday, 2,485 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Belgium, including 412 in intensive care. Authorities have warned that intensive care units will hit their capacity of 2,000 beds by mid-November if new cases continue to soar at the same pace.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the situation in Belgium now is more serious than it was in March when the country implemented a national lockdown.
"We have three times as many people in intensive care in hospitals. So the situation in the hospitals is serious. It will continue to deteriorate," De Croo told RTL.
With the extra restrictions, many restaurant and bar owners fear they might have to pull the plug for good. The sector contains more than 57,000 businesses and employs 120,000 people in Belgium.
Henrique Martins, the chef at the Gout et Saveur restaurant in Brussels, says he will rely on state subsidies and takeout sales to survive.
"It's pretty catastrophic, we'll see and try to hold on," he told The Associated Press on Monday.
Let us know if there is a problem with our content
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.
For general inquiries, please use our contact form.
For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience
We keep our content available to everyone.
Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process
and policies.
Editors
have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Medical Xpress is a web-based medical and health news service that is part of the renowned Science X network.
Based on the years of experience as a Phys.org medical research channel, started in April 2011, Medical Xpress became a separate website.
Medical Xpress is a part of Science X network.
With global reach of over 5 million monthly readers and featuring dedicated websites for hard sciences, technology, smedical research and health news,
the Science X network is one of the largest online communities for science-minded people.