Stores are closing in Belgium
In order to reduce the rapidly increasing coronavirus cases in Belgium, new measures were added to the previous measures, and it was decided to close stores, except markets and pharmacies.
The Consultative Committee, chaired by the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, discussed the measures to be implemented to reduce the number of new cases exceeding 15 thousand daily.
Stating that Belgium is in a state of emergency in terms of health, De Croo said in a statement after the meeting, “Our only option is to support the health sector and to avoid physical contact as much as possible. We are going back to strict measures. block.” said.
According to the decisions announced after the meeting, it was decided to close all stores in the country, except for the places where the public often needed such as supermarkets, grocery stores and pharmacies, until at least December 1, starting from Monday morning. Online or telephone sales will continue. Customers will have the opportunity to go to the store and take their orders without going inside.
The number of patients in the world exceeded 9 million
Restaurants that were previously closed together with cafes and bars will be able to continue their takeaway. Hotels may also be open, but the restaurants inside will be kept closed.
The curfew, which was previously announced in many regions of the country, between 22.00 and 06.00 was not extended. The prohibited time period in the Flemish region is between midnight and 05:00.
The Belgian government did not restrict travel either. It was reported that the borders will be kept open and travel will not be blocked.
At the beginning of the week, it was announced that schools that will take a break will not be closed, but the one-week holiday will be increased to two weeks for now.
The government also made decisions on social contact. Accordingly, each family can have close contact with at most one person without a mask and without social distance, but more than one person will not be allowed to be invited home. The maximum number of people who can come together outdoors will be 4. The number of people who live alone can meet with close contact may be two.
Working from home will continue in possible jobs that were among the previous measures. Adherence to work from home will be followed closely.
The necessity of a mask will continue in all open and closed areas.
In Belgium, which ranks at the top in terms of the number of cases per 100,000 people in Europe, the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, which has risen since the beginning of summer, has accelerated in recent weeks.
In the country with a population of 11.4 million, the number of new cases per day has reached an average of 15 thousand 316. The number of people who have been infected with the virus so far has reached 392 thousand 258, and the number of deaths has reached 11 thousand 308.
The increase in occupancy rates in hospitals has also reached an alarming level. 1057 of around 2 thousand intensive care beds in the country are filled. It is stated that all beds will be filled within a week with the same increase rate. For this reason, the Belgian Ministry of Health has announced that COVID-19 patients can be sent to Germany for treatment if necessary.
