COVID-19 Second Wave: Disaster Looms As Belgium Asks Infected Doctors To Keep Working

Disaster is looming in Belgium as some hospitals have asked health care workers to remain on the job even after they have tested positive for COVID-19.

Doctors in Liege who have tested positive have been asked to keep working after a quarter of the medical staff in Belgium's third-largest city have been absent due to COVID-19.

Liege University Hospital is one of 10 hospitals that have requested staff members who are not experiencing any symptoms to report to work in order prevent the hospital system from collapsing, BBC News reported.

"This is not a problem as they are working in coronavirus units with patients who also tested positive," Louis Maraite, Liege University Hospital's communications director, said.

Another Liege hospital, CHC MontLegia, confirmed that positive asymptomatic health care employees were asked to continue working on a voluntary basis. Doctors, nurses and other staff members there have been urged to follow strict sanitary measures and limit their contact with colleagues, CNN reported.

These measures come as a new surge of coronavirus cases in Belgium has led to record levels of patients in intensive care units, with half the country's 2,000-bed spaces occupied. Health officials have reported more than 13,000 cases daily in the past week, and the outbreak has been described as the second-worst in Europe, after only the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgium's health minister, believes the country's coronavirus outbreak is "the most dangerous in all of Europe."

The government imposed new rules last week in order to stop the coronavirus from spreading. In Brussels, gyms and cultural facilities are not being allowed to operate. A curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. was also imposed, the wearing of face masks is mandatory in public spaces, and amateur sporting events and amusement parks were asked to halt activies. The measures will last until Nov. 19.