Coronavirus – Hungary ‘imported’ 93 infections from abroad

Budapest, Hungary. Photo: MTI

Fully 93 novel coronavirus infections were “imported” from abroad during the epidemic, Hungary’s Chief Medical Officer said on Wednesday.

The largest number of people carrying the infection, 33, came to Hungary from Austria, Cecilia Müller told an online press conference, her final one scheduled.

A total of 17 cases arrived from the United Kingdom, another 5 each from Italy and Germany, 4 each from Spain and Turkey, and 3 each from France, Switzerland, Israel, the United States and Iran, she said. From the Netherlands and Mexico, there were 2 infections each, and one each from the Czech Republic, Portugal and Saint Lucia.

A total of 340 of Hungary’s 567 Covid-19 fatalities happened in Budapest, she said, adding that Pest County had 93, Fejér County 43, Komárom-Esztergom 38, Zala 16 and Veszprem County 8 fatalities. There were no fatalities in Békés, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg or Vas counties, Müller said.

Altogether 40 percent of the country’s registered coronavirus patients were elderly and none of the fatalities were under the age of 30, she said. A total of 90 registered patients were under the age of 20, she added.

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Müller said that for about a month after the first infections were detected in early March, the health authorities had been able to track down imported cases and other cases through contact tracing.

Hungary experienced a flattened epidemiological curve during the first wave, Müller said, adding that this meant the country could “breathe a small sigh of relief”.

Nevertheless, the virus is still present, she said, urging the public to continue to abide by the hygiene rules.

Tibor Lakatos, head of the emergency centre set up by the operative board coordinating the epidemic response said the board had taken action in 14,000 cases since it was set up on Feb. 5.

The authorities traced 3,647 contacts connected to the 4,078 confirmed Covid-19 cases, most of them in Budapest and Pest County, Lakatos said.

The emergency centre has also kept track of Hungary’s stock of protective gear, hospital bed occupancy rates, the number of patients on ventilators and donations offered to the operative board, he said.

Róbert Kiss, a staff member of the emergency centre, said that since March 12, the authorities had conducted 648,981 home quarantine inspections, registering violations in 0.44 percent of cases.