Coronavirus – Operative board: ‘Disorderly’ Budapest residents risking surge in cases

The authorities have reported multiple cases of Budapest residents violating social distancing restrictions and thus risking an “explosion” of novel coronavirus cases in the capital, a member of the operative board responsible for the response to the epidemic said on Sunday.

Róbert Kiss, of the operative board’s emergency centre, said police on Saturday had to disperse large gatherings in City Park, Margaret Island, Normafa hill, a popular attraction for day-trippers, and at various parts of downtown Budapest.

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Police recorded altogether 301 irregularities in the capital on Saturday, filed charges against 24 people and fined 14, he said.

Overall 64 reports were filed against businesses violating restrictions around shop opening hours, 41 of them in Budapest, Kiss added.

He said more than 200 Hungarians returned home from Austria’s Tyrol region by bus and car on Saturday and early Sunday.

Kiss also said that a significant number of Romanian migrant workers were waiting to cross the Romanian-Hungarian border to return to work in western Europe. They will be screened for coronavirus symptoms and if they are cleared, the authorities will look into whether they are permitted to enter their destination country.

The operative board has asked the foreign ministry for the information necessary to examine the workers’ entry permits, he said.

The authorities have ordered home quarantine in 13,435 cases so far and have conducted 103,305 inspections, Kiss said.

Source: MTI