BREAKING! Hungary closes down for two weeks to curb Covid spread
Hungary will close almost all shops and services for two weeks along with kindergartens and primary schools for the next month in an effort to tackle the third wave of coronavirus infections, the prime minister’s chief of staff announced on Thursday.
Shops, with the exception of food stores, pharmacies and petrol stations, will have to be closed and services, with the exception of private health care, suspended between March 8 and 22, Gergely Gulyás told a weekly press briefing.
Kindergartens and primary schools will be closed from March 8 until April 7, he said.
Gyms will also be closed for two weeks, but licenced athletes will be allowed to train and compete behind closed doors, Gulyás said. 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, he said.
The government asks employers to ensure that their employees can work from home wherever possible, particularly in the case of those with children, Gulyás said.
Mask-wearing remains mandatory outdoors, he said.
Gulyás also said that Hungary will 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, Gulyás said.
The decision is based on extensive cooperation with mathematicians, doctors, epidemiologists and other experts. “The numbers are clear,” he said.
The pandemic is spreading faster and faster, and its reproduction rate in Hungary is one of the highest in Europe, Gulyás said.
The third wave is expected to be stronger than either of the previous waves, he said. He added, however, that another “new feature” was that vaccines were at hand and that the inoculation of citizens was proceeding well.
“We can say for certain” that Hungary is currently third in Europe regarding the inoculation rate, and is expected to top that list by next week, Gulyas said.
However, that pace is still not enough to curb the spread of new mutant variants, he said.
Vaccine procurement is lagging in Brussels, and even the use of “Eastern vaccines” can’t ensure nationwide protection within two weeks, he said.
The only short-term remedy is a drastic reduction in contact rates, he said. The operative body and experts are in full agreement on the necessity of the measure, he added.
“If we didn’t go into lockdown now, not only would the number of incidents and deaths grow, it would also delay the opening of the country,” he said.
“We have been living under unusual, and previously unimaginable circumstances for a long time. Let us hope this is the last phase of the pandemic, and let’s hope we can reach an inoculation rate that allows reopening within a few weeks or months,” Gulyás said.
The country will start to reopen, “probably gradually”, on March 22, he said.
Hungarian citizens’ wishes will be key to the details of that reopening, he said, and called on all to participate in the government’s National Consultation survey on the issue.
The government will discuss the details of reopening the country at a meeting on March 17, and will take the results of the survey into consideration, he said.
The third wave needs to be “broken”, Gulyás said, adding that the new measures were necessary for that purpose. If everyone complies, life may restart earlier in Hungary, he said.
Reference for Hungarian speakers:
Photo: www.facebook.com/Magyarország Kormánya
Read alsoHungary allows unrestricted entry from more countries than announced before
Source: MTI
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4 Comments
HOPE this includes CASINO’s – that have enjoyed an un-restricted operation throughout this pandemic.
My money says 6 months from now Hungary will still be under this new lockdown and even if most people submit to rolling up their sleeve for a vaccine nothing will change. There is more to this than meets the eye. This is not just a Hungarian problem this seems to be a global conspiracy to wreck the global economy and most politicians do not even realise they are being played as fools by the globalist who want a one world government and currency and a 90% reduction in the planets population. Certainly many people are dying but one must ask themselves whom are the majority of those dying? The elderly and others with other serious underlying health problems. These same people would be dying even from the normal seasonal flu that has miraculously all but disapperared …Really? seems to me what we are really dealing with is actually just another variety of the flu.
Don’t tell me the congregation of 10 people per household still applies??????
This is the worst scenario for spreading the virus. Most sensible countries have either banned or severely restricted the number of people allowed to congregate inside the home. In Ireland we are not even supposed to meet in our gardens. Public park meeting and outdoor chats are fine provided everyone keeps their 1.5m distance. (In Ireland this is at 2m).
Governments are all doused in the same suds, turning the corona from a mosquito into a elephant, in order to obey the rules of Global Economic Forum, led by depot Klaus Schwab, to destroy economies and then Build Back Better, that’s their slogan, and also psychopath Bill Gates is involved in this all.