Dark day in Hungary: Covid-19 takes toll on a record 207 people in one day

Fully 207 generally elderly patients with co-morbidities died over the past 24 hours, while 6,502 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.

Altogether 1,441,706 people have been vaccinated in Hungary, 421,915 of whom have received a second shot, the portal said.

The number of active infections has risen to 160,557, while hospitals are caring for 10,386 Covid patients,

1,170 of whom need respiratory assistance.

Altogether 47,116 people are in official home quarantine, and the number of tests stands at 4,162,688.

Ever since the first outbreak, 539,080 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 17,628. Fully 360,895 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest (102,987) and Pest County (73,854), followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron (30,909), Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (30,249) and Hajdú-Bihar (29,194). Tolna County has the fewest infections (11,787).

Hungarian government to issue immunity certificates irrespective of vaccine type

Hungarian authorities will issue the European immunity certificate to all Hungarian citizens inoculated with any type of the vaccines licenced for use in the country, the government’s communications centre (KTK) said in a statement on Wednesday.

In response to the EU’s preparations to roll out a uniform certificate across the community, KTK said that “right now the vaccine is more necessary than a passport” and insisted that the vaccination rate was low in Europe because

“Brussels has blundered” with the centralised vaccine purchases.

“Brussels bureaucracy is busy waging a vaccine war rather than focusing on supplies, while tens of thousands of people die each day,” the statement said. In its statement, the government centre also pledged to inoculate all registered Hungarians “thanks to the vaccines procured from multiple sources”.

Hungary closes down until March 22 to curb Covid-19 spread

Hungary closed most shops and services for two weeks and kindergartens and primary schools for the next month in an effort to curb the third wave of coronavirus infections. MORE INFO HERE.

Shops, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, petrol stations, drugstores, tobacco shops, shops selling tools for “spring gardening”, pet food and fodder shops, and markets, will have to be closed, and services will have to stop, with the exception of private healthcare, social care, financial, postal, and car repair services, suspended between March 8 and 22.

Kindergartens and primary schools will be closed from March 8 until April 7. Gyms will continue to be closed for two weeks, but licenced athletes will be allowed to train and compete behind closed doors. Parks will be allowed to stay open and outdoor sports will also be allowed for activities in which people can maintain a safe distance of 1.5 metres.

The government asks employers to ensure that their employees can work from home wherever possible, particularly in the case of those with children.

Mask-wearing remains mandatory outdoors, he said. Hungary would impose tighter controls on its borders, adding, however, that freight and transit traffic will not be restricted. Wage subsidies and tax cuts introduced for the hospitality industry will be expanded for the period of the lockdown to all sectors forced to shut down by the new measures.

Source: MTI