Coronavirus – Number of hospital patients rising in Hungary

Photo: MTI/Balogh Zoltán

The number of patients being treated in hospital for the novel coronavirus is gradually rising, the chief medical officer said on Monday.

Altogether 261 of the 280 patients who have died from the virus so far were over the age of 60, Cecília Müller told an online news conference after a meeting of the operative board coordinating the response to the epidemic.

Elderly care homes are most at risk of infection, she warned, underlining the importance of the proper use of protective gear.

Coronavirus – Hungary reports 2583 cases of COVID-19, with 280 deaths

Meanwhile, she said a Covid-19 patient suffering from kidney failure became the first Hungarian to be put through blood plasma therapy. Müller said the patient’s condition was “hopeful” after a three-day therapy, adding, at the same time, that more time was needed to see how effective the therapy had been.

Doctors plan to treat several more patients with blood plasma therapy, she said, and called on recovered patients to donate blood plasma.

Müller reminded the public that special surgical masks were only useful for health-care workers and that it was not recommended to wear them outside.

In response to a question, she said the virus has so far spread to 25 retirement homes to varying degrees. Some of the larger homes have more patients, while some have only registered just a single case each, she added. So far, 64 care home residents have died from the virus, Müller said.

Answering another question, she said

the authorities knew of three homeless shelters in which coronavirus cases had been identified.

Asked how many health-care workers were infected, the chief medical officer said 13 percent of all coronavirus cases in Hungary were health-care staff, adding that this ratio was consistent with international trends. She added that many health-care workers had already recovered and not all of them had displayed symptoms.

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