More than 100 people have been infected with the UK strain of the coronavirus at a Belgian retirement home, its director told AFP.

"Three residents died after the virus began spreading at the De Groene Verte home in Houthulst, northwestern Belgium," Jurgen Duyck said.

A total of 111 people have been confirmed as infected, including 39 staff members. The cluster represents two-thirds of the home's residents.

Belgium has suffered one of the world's worst per capita death rates from the coronavirus, with nursing homes representing more than half of overall deaths from the disease, according to the Public Health Institute.

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