Coronavirus – Mayor orders closure of Margaret Island and other leisure hotspots

Budapest leisure hotspots such as Margaret Island, Óbuda Island and the Római embankment will be closed every day from 8am to 10pm from Friday to Monday, Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, has announced.

Karácsony told MTI late on Thursday that the purpose of the measure was to protect Budapest residents during the Easter holidays by curbing the chance for crowds to gather in much-frequented public areas managed by the municipality.

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Budapest’s chief of police has been asked to make sure the measure is enforced, he said.

Also, Karácsony instructed the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) to suspend the bus 26 line which serves Margaret Island for four days, and for the 4-6 tram to leave out the island’s stop.

Photo: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt

Mayors nationwide enact restrictive measures over Easter

Mayors nationwide have enacted restrictive measures in Hungary over the Easter holiday.

The measures include closing parks, car parks and hiking trails, curbing the number of visitors to localities and ordering the shuttering of some shops and markets.

In a Thursday decree, the central government authorised mayors to tighten curfew rules from Good Friday to Easter Monday.

Several mayors have also asked locals to leave their homes only when justified and to postpone any visits elsewhere.

The stricter restrictions have been enacted to prevent certain areas from becoming gathering places, which would speed up the spread of the virus, the head of the operational board responsible for handling the coronavirus epidemic told an online press conference on Friday.

Another important aspect of the government decree is that local councils can set the rules for market openings with the proviso that over-65s are given an exclusive timeframe for making purchases, Tibor Lakatos said.

Meanwhile, the government is providing the Budapest municipality with protective equipment, Lakatos said. Fully 1,000 protective overalls, 20,000 surgical masks, 10,000 gloves, 50 thermometres and 500 tests were delivered to the mayor’s office on Friday, he said.

Source: MTI