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Belgium imposes nationwide curfew, shuts restaurants and cafes for a month
Belgium has ordered all restaurants and cafes to close for a month from Monday and announced a nationwide curfew from midnight to 5.00, in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Close personal contacts - outside of those living under the same roof - will be restricted to one person per month, down from the current limit of three.
A close contact is someone with whom you spend more than 15 minutes, without wearing a mask or observing a safe distance. You can still invite four people to your home, provided safe distancing is maintained.
Restaurants can still provide takeaways for delivery or collection, but no later than 22.00. The sale of alcohol will be prohibited after 20.00. Christmas markets are cancelled.
Remote working should be the norm, wherever possible.
A consultative committee bringing together representatives from the federal and regional governments met on Friday afternoon to decide on further restrictions.
Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo said: "A lot of us know people who are in quarantine, and who have been infected. That's the main difference between now and March. Everyone realises how present the virus is.
"Week after week, the figures are doubling. The figures are alarming - they are significantly higher than in March and April when we took strong action. The next few days will not be positive - the growth will continue."
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Meanwhile, in the subway, you empathise with the sardines sharing the same olive oil in their box for a long, long time... But nobody says anything about that, because politicians always take measures that are simple: let's just close a whole sector of the economy, it will give the illusion that we're taking important measures.
Just wanted to let everybody know that there is indeed still an option to have a delightful meal in a restaurant, that is if you are guest in a hotel as we can still serve hotel guests obviously under the rules of COVID-19. So maybe this is the time for you to take the staycation that you always wanted. Look out for some great offers coming up or simply get in touch with Hotel Amigo in the very centre of Brussels to reserve your meal in Ristorante BoCConi
The idea here is to 'kill" the little guy so that a very few corporations can then move in to take the whole market share for peanuts, while their clientele will be banging on their doors so that they can have the illusion of "returning back to normal".