Four foreigners tested positive for new coronavirus in Hungary

Four foreigners have been tested positive for the new coronavirus in Hungary so far in isolated cases and the aim is to prevent the development of group infections, the head of an operative board set up to oversee protective measures against the coronavirus said on Friday.

Three citizens from Iran and one British man have been tested positive, Tibor Lakatos told a press conference. The former are in Szent László hospital in Budapest and the latter in the Kenézy Gyula hospital in Debrecen in eastern Hungary, he added.

The coronavirus has appeared in all countries of this region, with 43 cases identified in Austria, 11 in Croatia, 6 in Romania, 12 in the Czech Republic and 1 in Slovakia and Poland each, he said.

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A total of 39 people are held in quarantine in Hungary and the national public health centre has performed 263 tests, he said.

Screening for coronavirus suspects is ongoing at Hungary’s airports, affecting passengers arriving from Italy, Germany and France and those that indirectly arrive from Iran. A total of 6,273 tests have been completed at the airports of Budapest and Debrecen, and 419 tests at Hungary’s public road border crossings.

Hungary’s two transit zones for migrants have been closed for an indefinite period of time and the government has extended until September 7 a crisis situation caused by mass migration. Visa issuance has been suspended to Iranian citizens for an indefinite period and it has been decided that an operative board would have to approve any export of protective equipment against the coronavirus.

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Lakatos said the Iranian student at Semmelweis University who tested positive had neglected repeated warnings by university leaders to avoid public events. As a consequence, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology has again called on universities to inform students about potential risks and ask them to observe protective measures.

National public health officer Cecília Müller said persons were also being identified who the coronavirus patients in Hungary had been in contact with.

Director of the South-Pest Hospital Centre – National Institute for Infectology and Haematology János Szlávik said one of the Iranian university students had shown minor symptoms, another had had a cough but is now feeling better. His girlfriend is also expected to stay in hospital for a long time and the man in Debrecen has received infusion therapy after showing symptoms of a kidney disease, he added.

Source: MTI