BRUSSELS, March 24./TASS/. The number of coronavirus cases in Belgium has risen by 526 in the past 24 hours, amounting to 4,269, the Belgian Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday.

 

Thirty-four people have died, bringing the number of fatalities to 122, it said.

"The number of infected people grew to 4,269 as of 11:00 (13:00 Moscow time) with 526 new cases reported in the last 24 hours; 34 people have died," a ministry spokesperson told a news conference in Brussels.

"Overall, 1,859 people have been hospitalized in Belgium, including 381 patients in intensive care units," he said.

Belgium is on a nationwide lockdown between March 14 and April 5. All educational, cultural and public institutions have been closed, students and pupils have been moved to online learning settings, and all public and private gatherings have been banned irrespective of how many people take part. All private companies have been asked to have their staff work remotely. That said, state institutions are functioning part time.

Only emergency services, transportation and stores are operating on a regular basis. Local residents are not allowed to leave their neighborhoods. Social distancing rules are in effect on municipal transport and in supermarkets.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was registered in central China in late December 2019. The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. More than 150 countries have been hit by this infection. According to the latest data, nearly 350,000 people have contracted the virus and some 16,000 have died.