Hungarian virologist: mask wearing may soon return in Hungary

According to the Hungarian expert, Gábor Zacher, the BA5 variant of omicron, which is currently infecting in Hungary, spreads very rapidly and easily evades vaccines and the immune system. As a result, there is a remarkable increase in the number of infected people, which may soon lead to the reintroduction of mask-wearing in the country.

The well-known Hungarian toxicologist, Gábor Zacher, has recently caught the coronavirus infection. The medical caught the infection for the first time after four vaccines, which allowed him to recover with mild symptoms. However, this shows that thanks to the lack of restrictions, the disease continues to spread intensively in the country. The expert believes that his own example shows that the BA5 variant of omicron, which is currently infecting in Hungary, is spreading very rapidly and easily evades vaccination and the immune system. However, the good news is that it does not cause such severe symptoms as previous variants. Another positive fact is that the number of hospital admissions does not increase in proportion to the number of infected people. The infected people are therefore able to cope with mild symptoms at home, reports the Hungarian news portal Index. According to the medical, several people are infected for the second or even third time, and experience shows that the more times a person has the disease, the easier it is to recover.

Nevertheless, Gábor Zacher urges caution: a more dangerous variant with greater pathogenicity could emerge at any time, since in some parts of the world, the vaccination rate is below 10%.

As the Hungarian news portal Népszava reports, the concentration of coronavirus in wastewater are increasing across the country. In addition to Budapest, the trend is also rising in seven county capitals: Eger, Kecskemét, Miskolc, Nyíregyháza, Szeged, Székesfehérvár and Veszprém.

The latest figures show that 14,402 new cases have been confirmed in the last week, and a total of 54, mostly elderly, chronic patients have died. 1345 coronavirus patients are currently in hospital, 19 of whom are on ventilators. Based on the current data, there has been a very large increase of 40 percent in new infections compared to last week. It is also important to note that only a proportion of patients are included in the official statistics, as self-testing has become popular and not everyone reports their own positivity, writes the Hungarian news portal Portfolio.

The toxicologist, along with several virologists, stressed that mandatory mask wearing in indoor places would be very important and believes that the restriction will be introduced in the near future. The expert is aware of the fact that wearing a mask in the heat is unpleasant, but as he says, Covid infection is even worse than the heat. In addition to the basic immunity and two vaccinations, it is also worth taking the third and fourth vaccinations for those who have not yet done so.

In addition, the number of people in hospital has also increased recently due to the heatwave. According to the expert, dehydration, sunstroke, heat exhaustion are all common complaints. Therefore, the medical recommends drinking 3-3.5 litres of water and isotonic fluids a day for the rest of the summer.

Read alsoCoronavirus – 21,840 new cases last week, 96 fatalities

Source: index.hu, nepszava.hu, portfolio.hu