Bars and restaurants in Belgium shut down for a month

Faced with a resurgence of coronavirus cases, cafes, bars and restaurants in Belgium have closed for a month as part of new measures to try to hold the disease in check.

The Belgian government announced the restrictions on Friday and the measures came into force on Monday.

Speaking just before closing at midnight on Sunday, Peter Van der Bossche, the owner of the Brasserie Latem in Antwerp, said the decision was "not acceptable".

In other restrictions, a curfew will be enforced from midnight until 5:00 a.m.

Alcohol sales will be banned after 8:00 p.m. The number of people that Belgians should see socially outside family members will be reduced to a maximum of just one.

People have been ordered to work from home wherever possible.

Belgium, which has a population of around 11.5 million people, is one of the European countries hardest hit by the disease.

Almost 6,000 new cases were recorded each day on average over the last week.

In all, about 192,000 people have contracted the disease and 10,327 people have died.

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