Coronavirus in Antwerp: the police closed 34 Horeca establishments this weekend

Police checks in Antwerp are raining fines and closures in the Horeca. The measures decided on this weekend to curb the spread of the virus in the Province of Antwerp are not always respected. However, the place concentrates a significant number of contaminations.

The local police in Antwerp carried out 550 checks and closed 34 Horeca establishments for breach of the regulations, according to the office of mayor Bart De Wever. The vast majority of violations were related to non-compliance with the wearing of masks for staff.

However, at the provincial level, Antwerp seems to concentrate a large majority of new cases of coronavirus. Of the 279 new cases detected daily, 131 come from the Province of Antwerp, or nearly 47% of positive cases. All indicators show that there is a real exponential growth: the number of cases has tripled in one week to reach 567 cases. The situation is therefore closely monitored.

These figures are of particular concern to the doctors who are there. Some experts even evoke a local reconfinement in the city of Antwerp, according to the Dutch-speaking press. Others, such as epidemiologist Marc Van Ranst, believe that this confinement would be too late, and that it should rather be considered on a larger scale, and confine Flanders.

Too lax measures?

Experts are also not satisfied with the measures decided in Antwerp this weekend, such as wearing a mask, or reducing the social bubble to 10 people. They believe that these measures should be more restrictive at this stage.

This is the case of a general practitioner met in Antwerp: she believes that the social bubble should be even more limited. “I think it would be more effective, when we remember the images of March and April, when the streets were empty, today is something else“, explains Sonja Castermans.”There are people everywhere without a mask, it looks like the virus is gone, when it is not. It would even be better if the population took responsibility and said to themselves ‘I only see four or five people, and that’s it.’

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