Coronavirus – Police fine people repeatedly violating restrictions

Police have imposed on-the-spot fines and filed criminal complaints against people who repeatedly violated the extraordinary measures introduced due to the novel coronavirus, an official of the operative board coordinating the response to the epidemic said on Thursday.

Police have issued 187 warnings to people violating curfew restrictions and also imposed 70 fines and filed 162 complaints, Tibor Lakatos, the head of the board’s emergency centre, said.

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Those who repeatedly violate the rules will be fined or prosecuted, he said. Young people frequently gather in public areas and such meetings should be reduced to a minimum, he added.

Concerning “commanders” appointed to hospitals earlier this week, he said they had reported no serious insufficiencies that would threaten health services.

Commenting on prison inmates making face masks, he said that further production lines would be introduced to significantly increase production capacities. He added that no infections had been reported from any of the prisons and protective measures were in force.

He said a total of 10,668 home quarantines had been ordered by the authorities so far, and compliance has been checked more than 78,000 times. A total of 418 violations have been reported, 36 warnings have been issued, 211 fines have been imposed and legal proceedings were initiated in 341 cases.

Lakatos added that a total of 32 criminal procedures had been initiated for scaremongering, 22 for risking public alarm and 29 for fraud.

Source: MTI