12 November 2020: Belgium remembers the millions of lives that were lost in The Great War in Corona-style.

12 November 2020: Update on The Corona Pandemic – The number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid continues to fall.  The number of new infections is also decreasing.  That said, over 7,000 patients with Covid are still in hospital and the daily death toll continues to rise. Whilst the situation is still very worrying, we seem to have passed the peak of new cases of COVID-19 in Belgium and most of the other European countries. Yesterday was Armistice Day in Belgium; 11 November marks the effective end of World War I. The ceremonies to honor the millions that fell during The Great War were conducted in corona-style. In Ypres the ceremony was cut down to ten minutes and only the core elements were retained.  Only a couple of dozen witnessed the ceremony from afar with only six people permitted to stand under the Menin Gate, the monument to commemorate British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. Also, the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels was more sober than usual. King Philippe lit the eternal flame and the Last Post bugle call resounded but there was no band or large crowd present at the event. On display is a picture I took at the Tyne Cot Memorial. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defense and liberation of Belgium during The Great War. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war - Ypres in Belgium.