Coronavirus – Chief medical officer: Hungarian research on virus antibody ‘promising’

Hungarian research into the antibody to the novel coronavirus is showing promising results, and doctors have started to administer it to a patient on Thursday, Chief Medical Officer Cecília Müller said on Friday.

Speaking at the online press conference of the operative board coordinating the response into the novel coronavirus epidemic, Müller said Hungarian researchers were among the first in the world to produce the antibody to the virus, from the blood plasma of recovered patients.

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A gravely ill patient is already being treated with the antibody, she said, and called on recovered patients to donate blood plasma.

Meanwhile, the National Centre of Public Health is examining the presence within the environment, and has reported that no trace of the virus has been found in the Budapest sewage system, she said.

Currently, 877 are hospitalised with Covid-19, 61 of whom are on ventilators, Müller said.

The operative board’s spokesman, Róbert Kiss, told the same press conference that an old border crossing between Austria and Hungary has been opened to commuters and people living close to the border. Re-opening the Hegyeshalom crossing is helping farmers as well, Kiss added, who cannot use the motorway with farming vehicles.

Meanwhile, hospitals in Hungary are being supplied continuously with protective gear, Kiss said. On Friday, deliveries will arrive at four Budapest hospitals and in the cities of Veszprém, Székesfehérvár, Tatabánya, Ajka and Szekszárd, he added.

Source: MTI