Coronavirus – 12 new fatalities, number of registered cases rises to 2,168

Budapest, Hungary. Photo: MTI

Another 12 elderly patients suffering from chronic diseases have died in Hungary and the number of registered novel coronavirus infections has risen by 70 to 2,168, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday morning.

So far, there have been 225 fatalities and 295 people have left hospital after recovery.
There are 825 people in hospital, 63 of whom are treated on ventilators.

Fully 11,049 people are in home quarantine. So far, 52,702 coronavirus tests have been conducted at accredited laboratories.

Budapest has the highest number of infections (1,113), followed by Pest County (305) and Fejer county (181).

Read alsoCoronavirus – Face masks mandatory in Budapest shops, markets, taxis from Monday

Govt official: S Hungary epidemic hospital ‘engineering feat’

Zoltán Kovács, the state secretary for international communication and relations, on Tuesday called the newly built epidemic hospital in Kiskunhalas, in southern Hungary, a “feat of engineering”.

The temporary hospital capable of housing 150 patients is a “testament” to the skills Hungarians possess when it comes to building and equipping hospitals, Kovács said.

The state secretary said it was the responsibility of doctors to determine when it was necessary to open an institution dedicated to treating coronavirus patients whose condition is considered serious.

Kovács said

the government had acted in a timely manner to implement the necessary preventative measures and restrictions with a view to slowing down the spread of the virus.

He added that it was “exactly thanks to these timely measures that Hungary is holding its own in an international comparison” in terms of its coronavirus infection curve, the number of confirmed cases, patients and deaths.

KOVÁCS Zoltán kiskunhalas hospital hungary coronavirus — Kiskunhalas, Hungary. Photo: MTI

At the same time, he warned that though the government’s response to the epidemic has been successful in ensuring that the virus in Hungary was spreading slower than elsewhere, there were no guarantees against a sudden explosion of cases that would require the availability of tens of thousands of hospital beds.

Kovács noted that the construction of the container hospital had been part of a response to a sudden rise in coronavirus cases. Built on the premises of the Kiskunhalas prison, it will serve as a prison hospital after the epidemic subsides, he said.