COVID-19: Face masks mandatory in Brussels

Wearing a face mask became mandatory in all public spaces of the Belgian capital Brussels as of Wednesday.

The measure entered into force automatically after the publication of the latest COVID-19 figures.

So far, Brussels residents were only obliged to cover their nose and mouth in shops, as well as on public transport and certain popularly frequented streets.

But, the city council decided last week to make face covers obligatory everywhere if the daily average of new infections passed the limit of 50 per 100,000 inhabitants on a weekly average.

According to the latest data of the country's Public Health Institute Sciensano, an average of 54.4 per 100,000 residents were diagnosed with the disease daily between Aug. 2 and 8 in the capital.

During the same period, a 12% rise of new COVID-19 cases was registered in the entire country -- a slower pace compared to weeks before.

This brought the total number of coronavirus patients to 75,008 since the outbreak.

The federal government announced on Tuesday it was mobilizing €50 million ($58.7 million) to boost testing capacities to prepare for autumn's flu season.

Authorities aim to carry out 40,000 tests per day, doubling the current volume of 15,000-20,000.

Based on the success of a new testing village near Antwerp, the government also wants to set up more test centers across the country to take the burden off general practitioners who have been administering a significant proportion of tests so far.

Since appearing in China last December, the virus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

More than 20.3 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide, with over 741, 000 deaths and over 12.6 million recoveries.