Scotland and Belgium are the newest European countries to shut down pubs and restaurants as the continent struggles to keep a lid on coronavirus infections.

It comes after Paris had shut down all its bars, gyms, and swimming pools for two weeks on Tuesday after the French Government had raised the city's coronavirus alert to the highest level.

Belgium has also announced national measures to close all bars by 11 p.m. on Tuesday, but due to a more serious spike in the capital Brussels, all bars, cafes, and event venues in the city must now be closed for at least a month.

Belgium's cases increased again in the week ending 3 October, up 57% from the previous week.

Over that period, the daily average increased from 1,570 to 2,466 new infections per day.

Belgium has had a large number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths — over 10,000—only 11,6 million people in its population.