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Belgium extends mask use, enforces home working as COVID-19 spikes

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A jogger runs past the Atomium in Brussels on May 20, 2020. John Thys, AFP/file" src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/afp/11/17/20211117-brussels.jpg"/><figcaption>A jogger runs past the Atomium in Brussels on May 20, 2020. <em>John Thys, AFP/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>BRUSSELS—Belgium tightened its coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, mandating wider use of masks and enforcing work from home, as cases spiked in the country&#x27;s fourth COVID-19 wave.</p><p>From Saturday, all people in indoor venues such as cafes and restaurants will need to wear a mask unless seated and the rule will apply to those aged 10 or older. The previous age threshold was 12.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/18/21/amid-5th-wave-french-new-covid-cases-top-20k-in-a-day">New coronavirus cases in France top 20,000 in one day, first time since August</a></li></ul><p>Nightclubs may have to test their guests if they want to let them dance mask-free. People wanting to eat in a restaurant or go to the theatre already must present a COVID pass, showing vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/18/21/covid-cases-go-up-in-europe-restrictions-sought-again">‘Alarm signals are all red’: Europe sees coronavirus infections skyrocket</a></li></ul><p>Most Belgians will also have to work from home 4 days a week until mid-December, and for 3 days after that.</p><p>Belgium has one of the highest cases per capita rates in the European Union, behind only the Baltic and former Yugoslav nations and Austria, at around 1 per hundred people over the past 14 days, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.</p><p>&quot;The alarm signals are all red,&quot; prime minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference. &quot;We had all hoped to have a winter without coronavirus, but Belgium is not an island.&quot;</p><p>The new restrictions are still milder than the lockdown imposed on the unvaccinated in Austria and the shortening of bar and restaurant opening hours in the Netherlands.</p><p>De Croo said Belgium planned to give booster jabs, currently limited mostly to the elderly, to the wider population.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/18/21/chancellor-merkel-germanys-covid-situation-dramatic">Merkel warns of dramatic situation before talks to curb COVID-19 in Germany</a></li></ul><p>Belgium&#x27;s infections spike has been sharpest in the northern region Flanders, where vaccination rates are higher, prompting eased restrictions in October. <em>(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Giles Elgood)</em></p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/18/21/as-surge-breaks-records-dutch-now-short-of-covid-tests">Dutch running short of COVID-19 tests, as surge breaks records</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1826684" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

'The alarm signals are all red,' Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference.