COVID-19 deaths in Hungary top 300

Budapest, Hungary. Photo: MTI

A further 9 people, all of whom were elderly and suffering from an underlying illness, have died, bringing the total number of Covid-19 deaths to 300, while the number of registered infections in Hungary has risen by 78 to 2,727, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday morning.

Fully 536 people who were hospitalised have recovered, while 983 patients are being treated, 50 of whom are on ventilators.

With the rise in the number of patients, hospitals across the country are increasing their bed capacity in preparation for the phase of mass illness.

Currently 10,071 people in official home quarantine.

The number of tests carried out stands at 70,300.

Budapest has the most infections (1,347), followed by Pest County (368) and Fejér county (269). Békés and Vas counties have the fewest infections in Hungary, with 14 each.

Is blood plasma therapy a success in curing COVID-19?

Hungary faces ‘long battle’ against epidemic, says govt official

Hungary faces a long period of defence against the novel coronavirus epidemic, but the government is continuously procuring protective gear and hospital equipment, foreign ministry state secretary Tamás Menczer said on Tuesday.

Last week, 20 planes and five lorries delivered a total of 9.5 million surgical masks and 234,000 high-quality FFP face masks to Hungary, Menczer told parliament’s welfare committee. So far, Hungary has taken delivery of more than 86 million masks and the country has contracted to receive a further 62 million, he said.

Concerning the repatriation of Hungarian citizens stranded abroad due to travel restrictions, Menczer said

the foreign ministry has so far helped 9,553 Hungarians return home from 116 countries.

Since the onset of the epidemic, the ministry has three main tasks: repatriating citizens stranded abroad, monitoring the measures implemented by foreign governments and procuring protective and hospital equipment, the state secretary said.

“The world is lined up at China’s door,” Menczer said.

He said the current situation regarding the procurement of equipment from China resembled a “cowboy economy” and was an example of “rampant capitalism”, highlighting the fierce international competition for goods that are often hard to obtain.