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COVID-19 is reported to be infected, and thus about a quarter of the city’s medical staff are not yet employed.
The management of ten hospitals has approached doctors with a request that those without symptoms return to work, despite a positive test result.
Speaking to the BBC, the director of the Belgian Medical Trade Unions Association said that decision was made as the only way to protect the system from total collapse.
Philippe Devos acknowledged that the risk of transmitting the virus to patients is obvious.
One in three city dwellers in eastern Belgium is generally positive. Patients are sent to hospitals in other regions, non-emergency operations are canceled. This is the reality that appears a few days after Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke warned of a tsunami of infections that is sure to hit as management no longer controls the situation.
Belgium as of October 19. closed all cafes and restaurants for four weeks as the country struggled to cope with the sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
The decision was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Georges Gilkinet after a meeting of the crisis group of the Belgian government.
According to Gilkinet, the decision to close cafes and restaurants considered high-risk areas for the virus was made in an attempt to prevent another global quarantine, such as the one in place in Belgium earlier this year.
He warned that “the situation is serious from the point of view of health” and we must “avoid overcrowding in our health system.”
“Our hospitals are stuck,” he added. “The numbers are as high as in March, when we decided to quarantine ourselves, and we really want to avoid that.”
Like many other European countries, Belgium introduced a nationwide quarantine earlier this year, which helped reduce the number of COVID-19 cases. However, the number of new infections, as well as serious hospitalizations, is increasing again, and regional authorities are tightening the rules again.
Belgium, one of the European countries most affected by the coronavirus, tightened restrictions on social contacts last Friday, without more fans at sporting events, a limited number of people in cultural spaces and the closure of theme parks.
According to Reuters, Belgium had already closed cafes, bars and restaurants and introduced a curfew. The number of infections per capita in the country is the second largest on the continent. Despite the bad epidemiological situation, the government resists calls from medical experts to introduce another quarantine to avoid further negative consequences for the state’s economy.
The new restrictions, which will run until November 19, also include stricter safety distance rules.
They were taken to avoid public transportation congestion, and theaters, concert halls and cinemas can accommodate up to 200 people at a time.
“We are pressing the pause button … we have one goal: to limit contacts that are not necessary,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo told a press conference. “There is no law that can stop the virus, we can only stop it together.”
It is estimated that the number of confirmed infections daily in Belgium this week could exceed 20,000. limit, said a spokesman for the Sciensano Institute of Public Health.
Czech Republic prepares to introduce curfew in fight against COVID-19 outbreak
In the Czech Republic, the curfew will come into effect on Wednesday and will continue to record the worst COVID-19 morbidity rates in the EU.
“We are still not seeing the decline we expected these days,” Health Minister Roman Prymula told reporters on Monday, adding that the impact of other recently introduced restrictions was “insufficient”.
He added that the curfew will take effect from Wednesday at 10 pm Lithuanian time until November 3 at 5 pm 59 minutes, although there will be exceptions for people who travel to work and take pets.
According to R. Prymula, the shops must close after 9 pm Lithuanian time and on Sundays, all day long.
The minister urged companies to allow employees to work from home if possible.
Since the beginning of the outbreak in March, 10.7 thousand. More than 260,000 people are registered in an EU member state with a population of In COVID-19 cases, 2,300 people died.
The Czech Republic is currently the community leader in terms of the number of new deaths and infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
“We are approaching levels that would threaten the capacity of the Czech health system,” said Prymula, an epidemiologist.
The Czech military has established a 500-bed backup open-air hospital, and medical supplies are flowing in from abroad, including lung ventilators supplied by the European Commission, EU partners and other countries.
Prymula is preparing to leave the government when a tabloid photographer noticed him leaving a restaurant that had to be closed under anti-virus measures introduced by the minister himself.
According to local media, this week he is to be replaced by the deputy director of a hospital in Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic.
There has been a partial quarantine in the country since last week, which should also last until November 3.
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