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Coronavirus: – Government: Hungarian economy should be restarted in all areas where threats to health could be prevented
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A slow and careful approach is needed in the next phase of Hungary’s response to the novel coronavirus epidemic, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told commercial InfoRadio on Tuesday, adding the majority of protective measures would have to be upheld.
The whole of Europe and even the United States is in a situation where they can now start shifting their focus to finding a way out of the pandemic, Gulyás said. He said the measures imposed in March had been largely successful, arguing that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and the death toll in Hungary and some other central European countries were low in international comparison.
He said that
when weighing how to “restart life” in Hungary it was important to take into consideration the level of infection in the country and the need to avoid a massive surge in cases.
So the main aim of the measures imposed so far, he said, had been to ensure that the health-care sector could cope with a potential spike in cases. Gulyás said the measures had been effective in making sure that hospitals were ready to deal with even a worst-case scenario.
He said this gave the government the chance to try to carefully restart life in the country under a strict schedule, adding that the specific measures to be introduced would be approved on Wednesday.
At present, the government can only provide rough estimates in terms of the dates for easing certain restrictions, Gulyás said. “The restrictions on movement have been tough for everyone and online education has also been a heavy burden for parents,” Gulyás said, adding that it was also important “not to lose Hungary’s economic success story”. He said
the economy should be restarted in all areas where threats to human life and health could be prevented.
Gulyás said the government’s decisions on any easing of restrictions needed to reflect the geographic differences in the spread of the virus.