19 September 2020 - Corona Pandemic Update - Belgians asked to eat fries twice a week

Belgium has turned dark orange again on the updated European coronavirus map, meaning over 60 new coronavirus infections per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded in the last two weeks. This makes Belgium the 7th most affected country in Europe. Spain is by far the country with the highest number of infections in relation to its population, with 292 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days. It is followed by France (172 cases), the Czech Republic (166 cases), Luxembourg (130 cases), Malta (127 cases) and Hungary (94 cases). The Netherlands (90 cases) comes after Belgium. One of the side effects of the corona crisis is that the demand of French fries has slumped as a consequence of restaurants being closed and the cancellation of the many festivals. Belgian farmers are now facing a surplus of some 750,000 tonnes of crop that risks being destroyed. Belgapom, the professional association of potato farmers is now calling on us to make up for the shortfall by eating fries twice a week… I guess that every cloud has its silver lining – Brussels, Belgium