Belgium Imposes Lockdown to Avert Health-Care System Collapse
- Belgian measures announced amid shortages of staff, ICU beds
- Hospitals, testing laboratories stretched beyond their limits
An ambulance arrives with a patient at a hospital in Liege, Belgium, on Oct. 29.
Photographer: Valentin Bianchi/AP Photo
Nowhere else is Europe’s virus misery more visible than in its unofficial capital of Brussels, where Belgian leaders announced a lockdown to avert an imminent buckling of one of the continent’s most advanced health-care systems.
Belgium is once again finding itself at the epicenter of the unfolding pandemic disaster, and on Friday announced the closing of all non-essential stores, as well as a partial ban of visits to family and friends, in a last-ditch attempt to stem the flow of hospital admissions. Schools will also stay closed for two weeks. A night curfew is already in place and bars and restaurants were closed earlier this month.