Belgium announces lockdown to contain second wave of coronavirus

Belgium has imposed a partial lockdown in a new bid to gain control of the pandemic that has hit the country worse than any other in the European Union, calling it the "the last chance."

As COVID-19 infections continued their record increase Friday, the government decided to restrict travel and shopping. Family contact will also be reduced to an absolute minimum of one outside the closest cluster for the next 6 weeks. Remote work will be mandatory.

"We are going towards a reinforced confinement with only one goal: to prevent health care services from collapsing because they are already under tremendous pressure," said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as he announced the measures.

Hospitals and experts had long complained that Belgium's measures were too lax over the summer when the pandemic eased and warned recently that unless there was a drastic lockdown the nation's once-vaunted health system would soon face breaking point.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Friday ranked Belgium as the worst affected nation in the 27-nation bloc, with 1,600 cases per 100,000 people. Hotspots like Spain and Italy have less than a third of that total, highlighting how acute the crisis is.

After surpassing the spring record on Thursday, the number of hospital patients in Belgium, a nation of 11.5 million, broke the 6,000-mark and stood at 6,187, a rise of 263 in a day.

Patients in intensive care units reached 1,057 from 993 the day earlier, and virologists have warned that unless tougher measures have a quick impact the saturation point of 2,000 patients in ICU will be reached on Nov. 6.