Coronavirus – Number of home quarantine cases declining in Hungary

Budapest, Hungary. Photo: MTI

The number of active home quarantine cases in Hungary continues to decline, with 10,942 currently in effect and 536 ordered in the past 24 hours, a spokesman of the operative board coordinating the response to the novel coronavirus epidemic said on Thursday.

The authorities have taken steps regarding 18 violations of home quarantine regulations in the past day, Róbert Kiss said, adding that a total of 1,199 such violations have been registered since March 12.

Over the past 24 hours, 1,134 procedures have been started regarding violations of the regulations restricting movement during the epidemic, Kiss said.

Over the coming two weekends, local governments will again be authorised to ramp up movement restrictions if they see it necessary, Kiss said, adding that the current restrictions will remain in effect until May 3.

Local authorities can issue decrees ramping up regulations within the localities, he said.

Read alsoCoronavirus – Restrictions to be extended until May 3 in Hungary – UPDATE

Speaking at the same news conference, Chief Medical Officer Cecília Müller noted that the number of infections is continuing to grow.

“We’re not at the end yet, and the number of infected is increasing day by day,” she said.

Müller rejected opposition claims that face masks imported to Hungary “are gathering dust in warehouses”. Face masks are disposable objects, she noted, and are primarily distributed to health-care workers. One mask is used for one shift or a maximum of a few hours at a time, and so “they are used in great quantities.”

Answering a question about home quarantine orders for apartment blocks, Müller said the block itself is not bound by a quarantine ordered for one or more residents there. The apartment in question receives a red seal marking the quarantine, and the entrance to the block carries a warning that some residents are infected, she said.

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