Hungary records highest daily death toll in this year – March 10, 2021

Fully 179 patients, generally elderly with an underlying condition, died over the past 24 hours, and 5,653 new coronavirus infections were officially registered, while 1,107,791 people had received their first jab by Wednesday, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday.

The number of infections has risen to 480 860, while the death toll has increased to 16,325. The number of recoveries stands at 340,844.

There are 123,691 active infections, while hospitals are caring for 8,348 Covid patients, 844 of whom are on ventilators.

Fully 42,362 people are in official home quarantine, while the number of tests carried out has increased to 3,922,530.

Most infections have been registered in Budapest (91,257) and Pest County (63,759), followed by Győr-Moson-Sopron (27,438) Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (27,279), and Hajdú-Bihar counties (26,432). The county least affected by the infection is Tolna (10,696).

Hungarian hospitals under strain from COVID-19 surge

COVID-19 admissions are putting Hungary’s hospital system under increasing strain and infections are expected to rise further in coming days as the variant first identified in Britain spreads, the surgeon general said on Tuesday.

Cecília Müller said numbers of hospitalised COVID-19 patients reached 8,270 on Tuesday to exceed a December second-wave peak.

“The pandemic situation is very serious in Hungary,” she told a briefing.

With the third coronavirus wave sweeping Central Europe, Czech Republic has asked Germany, Poland and Switzerland to take in patients, while Slovakia is also struggling to cope.

Germany, meanwhile, is cautiously easing lockdown curbs.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday he expected hospitalisations to rise to 15,000-20,000, adding that the health care system should be able to cope without external help.

According to data he cited in February, Hungary has 2,296 beds equipped with ventilators, and over 15,800 ready to receive COVID-19 patients.

Orbán’s government has tried to avoid a tough lockdown to prevent a repeat of the deep recession that followed spring 2020 curbs, but it toughened restrictions on Monday, extending a night-time curfew and closing all schools and most shops.

The country of about 10 million – the first in the European Union to use Chinese and Russian shots as well as Western ones – has also accelerated its vaccination campaign.

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Hungary closes down until March 22 to curb Covid-19 spread

Hungary close most shops and services for two weeks and kindergartens and primary schools for the next month in an effort to curb the third wave of coronavirus infections. MORE INFO HERE.

Shops, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, petrol stations, drugstores, tobacco shops, shops selling tools for “spring gardening”, pet food and fodder shops, and markets, will have to be closed, and services will have to stop, with the exception of private healthcare, social care, financial, postal, and car repair services, suspended between March 8 and 22.

Kindergartens and primary schools will be closed from March 8 until April 7.

Gyms will continue to be closed for two weeks, but licenced athletes will be allowed to train and compete behind closed doors. Parks will be allowed to stay open and outdoor sports will also be allowed for activities in which people can maintain a safe distance of 1.5 metres.

The government asks employers to ensure that their employees can work from home wherever possible, particularly in the case of those with children.

Mask-wearing remains mandatory outdoors, he said. Hungary would impose tighter controls on its borders, adding, however, that

freight and transit traffic will not be restricted.

Wage subsidies and tax cuts introduced for the hospitality industry will be expanded for the period of the lockdown to all sectors forced to shut down by the new measures.

Source: MTI