All Belgian bars and restaurants will be forced to close for four weeks, the federal government said on Friday, in order to tackle a surging second wave of the coronavirus, with hospitals close to running out of beds.
The Belgian government also decided to impose a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m for a month.
“This virus is affecting our country in a very hard way,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference, after a five-hour meeting. “The coming weeks will be very difficult but we must take those measures to avoid the worse.”