BRUSSELS: The number of coronavirus cases recorded in Belgium surged past 2,000 on Friday and the number of deaths attributed to the disease COVID-19 jumped up by 16 to 37. According to the country’s national crisis centre, 462 new confirmed cases of the virus have been reported, bringing the total to 2,257 in a country of 11.4 million people. Two-thirds of the new cases overnight were in Dutch-speaking Flanders, in northern Belgium. Europe is now the epicentre of the pandemic that emerged in China in December, with Italy now the hardest country. “Everyone should respect these measures, and in my opinion, exceptions to the rules will come to an end in the coming days,” another crisis centre spokesman Benoit Ramacker said.

Source: New Strait Times March 20, 2020 11:26 UTC