Coronavirus – Orbán: First battle against the virus ‘won’

The “first battle” against novel coronavirus has been won in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview on Friday.

Orbán told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that the virus had been contained.

“We’ve managed to develop methods of control and gain time,” he said, adding that the health-care system had successfully prepared itself to handle the crisis.

The prime minister noted, however, that the virus had not yet been eliminated in Hungary.

“We’ve just prepared to ward off the next attack,” he said, citing expert opinion that a second wave was expected around October-November.

He added that if the death rate in Budapest fell, the government would not hesitate to allow residents of the capital to resume a normal life.

The easing of restrictions will take place gradually and according to a strict timetable, he said, noting that the government is closely following experiences in Austria and the Czech Republic as guidance.

Orbán insisted that new powers handed to the government by parliament did not give it special rights but allowed the cabinet to act swiftly. He said decisions would be made every two weeks during which the effect of changes could be assessed.

Addressing international criticism of the government in relation to its enhanced powers during the state of emergency, Orbán said he had been certain that once it became clear that the outbreak of the virus could not be contained, “proposals from financial speculators” for crisis financing would be forthcoming, and the very beneficiaries would be the financial investors themselves.

“I would have been highly surprised had one of the most talented sons of our country, George Soros, not appeared among these investors,” he said.

He said first of all a “Soros plan” on migration had been published, and his “second plan” had been hatched in connection with the epidemic, promising huge profits for financial investors with minimal risk. Accordingly, Hungary, he said, would be attacked and accused of employing dictatorial methods as a way to neutralise Hungary’s objections to the speculators’ plan.