Belgium will close schools, non-food stores and hairdressers for four weeks from Saturday, in a sharp renewed lockdown designed to contain a rising third wave of Covid-19 infections, according to Reuters.

A year on from the first pandemic shutdown, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference that the variant of the virus first discovered in Britain had become dominant in the country and led to a doubling of Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

Belgium is one of 19 EU countries with rising infections.

“We are facing a third wave. We will break it, as we did the previous ones,” De Croo said. “We have decided on a short term pain. It’s a heavy decision to take, but if we didn’t the consequences would be more serious.”

Schools will close from Monday, a week earlier than planned before Easter holidays, and reopen on April 19.