TIRANA, Albania — Albania on Monday decided to apply a three-week night curfew and closure of bars and restaurants to prevent a further spread of the virus.

Health authorities decided to stop people’s move and close the restaurants and cafes from 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) t0 6 a.m. (0500 GMT). During those hours people may strictly move only for work purpose, health emergencies or necessary needs, they said.

Medical experts also advised that the public employees work from home.

Wearing masks indoors and outdoors is mandatory, too.

The new steps start to be applied on Wednesday, Nov, 11 and will be reviewed every week.

Albania has noted a significant increase of the daily new confirmed cases in the last month, reaching a record of 501 new cases on Sunday.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has registered 176 cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks in Albania, compared to 69 a month ago.

There have been recorded 24,206 confirmed virus cases with 559 deaths as of Sunday, according to the Health Ministry.