Coronavirus in Hungary: 86,134 active infections and 6,061 hospitalised patients

Fully 55 patients, mostly elderly with an underlying illness, have died over the past 24 hours, while 5,162 new coronavirus infections have been registered, bringing the total number of infections since the outbreak in the spring to 114,778, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Monday.

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The death toll has risen to 2,493, while 26,161 have made a recovery.

There are 86,134 active infections and 6,061 hospitalised patients, 415 on a ventilator.

Fully 36,356 people are in official home quarantine, while the number of tests carried out stands at 1,225,399.

The government has restored the “special legal order”, allowing it to take fast action. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a video on Facebook, called on lawmakers to reintroduce the special legal order for 90 days and announced a curfew between midnight and 5am. Nightclubs have been ordered to close.

Parking has been made free of charge once again with a view to reducing crowds on public transport.

Sporting events, cinemas and theatres have to restrict audiences to using every third seat, and face masks must be worn.

The authorities are inspecting all events and fine transgressors. Venues that fail to observe the rules get shut down immediately.

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So far most people have been registered in Budapest (28,722) and Pest County (14,851), followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron (8,048), Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (6,836) and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg (6,015). Tolna County has the fewest infections (1,379).

UPDATE

National health centre: Mayor Karacsony ‘wrong’ about antigen tests

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony “is wrong” in trusting antigen detection tests to produce reliable results for Covid infections, the National Public Health Centre (NNK) said on Sunday.

NNK reacted to Karácsony’s recent announcement that the municipality of Budapest will purchase 100,000 antigen rapid tests which he said “are as reliable as PCR tests”.

NNK called the mayor’s statement “a huge mistake and professionally unfounded”, arguing that antigen tests were unsuitable for mass screenings of those who are symptom-free, or exhibit only mild symptoms of Covid-19 infection.

An antigen test in a latter case would most likely produce “a false negative result”, NNK said in a statement.

It recommended the antigen test to be used for patients with moderate to severe symptoms.

Karácsony responded on Facebook, saying that

“it is regrettable that NNK has been dragged into the smear campaign directed at the Budapest municipality”.

Testing for Covid is the duty of the state, he said, adding that the number of tests had been “ridiculously low”. He said the municipality of Budapest had already conducted more than 50,000 PCR tests “instead of the state”.

Karácsony insisted that unlike PCR tests, antigen tests produced almost 100 percent accuracy “just in a matter of 15 minutes and at a lot lower cost”.

“This is why the National Ambulance Service is using them,”

Karácsony said, adding that neighbouring Slovakia is using antigen tests to screen the whole population.

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Source: MTI