Hungarian COVID fatalities rise nearly 27,000

Fully 183 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,253 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Tuesday.

So far 3,679,730 people have received a first jab, while 1,711,723 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 254,103, while hospitals are treating 6,360 Covid patients,

753 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 34,785 people in official quarantine, while 5,308,624 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 772,707 infections have been registered,

while fatalities have risen to 26,984.

Fully 491,620 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Győr-Moson-Sopron and Hajdú-Bihar.

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Human resources minister welcomes WHO’s immunisation strategy

Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler on Monday welcomed the World Health Organisation’s new Immunization Agenda 2030 strategy, saying it would help save more than 50 million people over the next decade.

“Vaccines in the current phase of the fight against the pandemic mean hope and life in our country and the world over,” Kásler said in a video on Facebook.

“It is in this spirit that I encourage my compatriots to take the vaccine.”

The minister noted that the new strategy was introduced by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as part of the organisation’s World Immunization Week 2021 campaign.

Terraces have opened on Saturday

The number of Hungarians vaccinated against Covid-19 reached 3.5 million yesterday, so restaurant and bar terraces have opened this Saturday.

Gergely Gulyás told a press briefing on Thursday that open-air facilities, similarly to shops, can stay open until 9.30pm, while the night-time curfew will begin an hour later at 11pm. Reopening catering facilities is “the first step towards regaining freedom”, Gulyás said, adding that he hoped faster steps could follow.

He added that “a large amount of vaccine is expected to arrive soon”.

During the next week one million doses of the Chinese vaccine will arrive, as well as 200,000 first doses of the Russian vaccine, Gulyás said, adding that the second dose of the latter would follow promptly. Over 300,000 doses of Pfizer will also arrive next week, he added.

So far, some 4.4 million have registered for the vaccine and 73% of them have received their jabs. Hungary will need some 6 million people vaccinated to reach herd immunity, he added.

Source: MTI