BRUSSELS, March 25. /TASS/. The number of novel coronavirus cases in Belgium has risen by 668 in the past 24 hours, with 56 people dead. The total number of those infected has reached 4,937, with 178 dead, the country’s health ministry informed on Wednesday.
"As of 11:00 (13:00 Moscow time), the number of those infected has risen to 4,937, with 668 cases and 56 deaths documented in the past 24 hours. In total, 2,308 people are hospitalized in Belgium," the ministry stated.
A nationwide quarantine has been introduced in Belgium from March 14 to April 5. All schools and universities have switched to remote learning, all culture and entertainment facilities have been shut down. All public events have been canceled regardless of the number of participants. All private enterprises have been advised to send their employees to work from home. All state enterprises have reduced working hours. Only emergency services are working as usual. Belgium has also closed its borders and banned all travel within the country.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in more than 150 countries, including Russia.
On March 11, WHO declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. As of now, over 410,000 people have been infected around the world and more than 18,000 have died.