(Credit: © Lorraine Wauters)

The Mayor of Liège Willy Demeyer has ordered that all theaters in the city immediately shut down due to the rise in COVID-19 cases.

As a result, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège has cancelled its performances of Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet.” The opera was slated to open on Oct. 29, 2020, and run until Nov. 10, 2020.

The opera was supposed to star Lionel Lhote, Jodie Devos, Béatrice Uria-Monzon, Nicolas Testé, Pierre Derhet, Shadi Torbey, Maxime Melnik, Laurent Kubla, and Patrick Delcour.

L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège was also ordered to suspend its activities starting Oct. 27, 2020.

Belgum is undergoing a second wave of COVID-19, which is challenging its health system and ICU capacities. The country reached a record of new daily COVID-19 infections on Oct. 24 2020, with 17,709 new cases.