Belgian governor urges visitors to avoid Antwerp

The governor of Belgium's Antwerp province is urging visitors to stay away, after a rapid increase of coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

Speaking with British broadcaster Sky News, Cathy Berx said nearly half of all new infections seen in Belgium were from Antwerp.

She suggested regional lockdown restrictions may have not have been eased so early if the calculation of the reproduction rate had focused on individual provinces instead of the entire of the country.

"If it would have been applied on Antwerp itself, they would have seen that it was still rather high," Berx said.

Authorities concerned about a potential second wave in Belgium have tightened social distancing measures.

In Antwerp stricter regulations, including a night time curfew and the mandatory wear of face masks in public spaces when a distance of 1.5 meter can't be observed, has also been introduced.