Hungarian scientist warns for dangerous outcome of the epidemic

Photo: MTI/Balogh Zoltán

Gergely Röst, an epidemic mathematician of the University of Szeged, stated that the coronavirus epidemic in Hungary has turned dangerous in recent weeks as the cases started to rise again. According to the expert, infections brought from other countries barely reach 10% and the cases inside the country began to rise.

Portfólió reported that the upcoming autumn season will be harsh for Hungary. The virus spreads quickly and the opening of schools and universities, the increased number of people travelling in major Hungarian cities are helping factors for the coronavirus spread. The team of Röst prepares the epidemic reports for the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and the government daily helping them in making decisions.

The reproduction number — the number of people getting infected by one person — has reached 2.5 while the regular scale is between 1 and 1.3. Röst stated that this could be dangerous in the following weeks.

Children usually do not show symptoms and get through the virus more quickly than adults; those who suffer from the consequences of the virus can spread it equally to an adult. The number of contacts increase as more and more people use public transportation; parents meet every day at schools, and also teachers walk through several classrooms a day while meeting different children every hour. The registered infections in the past few weeks come from the middle of August. The data of those who might carry the coronavirus comes just now, as Röst said. The scientist believes that the government’s border restriction cannot help to stop the disease. Moreover, in April, the average age of infected persons was 69 but now only 31 which means that the virus infects the younger generation.

Röst added that nobody wants to return to lockdown, but currently, the scientist cannot imagine a better option to stop the virus again. He added that the Hungarian testing procedure is slow and tests do not work correctly.

Featured image: MTI / Balogh Zoltán