Hungary to cooperate with Israeli firm on Covid-19 test production

Hungary will expand cooperation with a partner Israeli company to include the production of coronavirus testing kits in Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Thursday.

Because of the likely emergence of new virus mutations and uncertainty as to how long immunity lasts after a person has been vaccinated, demand for quality test kits is expected to remain high, Szijjártó told MTI from Jerusalem.

The Israeli firm in question started manufacturing “cutting-edge” ventilators in Hungary last spring, Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary has now acquired capacities for the production of another important component in the fight against the pandemic.

EC supports transparency of vaccine contracts

The European Commission supports the transparency of framework agreements signed with vaccine manufacturers, the representative office of the EC in Hungary said on Thursday.

The office reacted to remarks by Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, who told a regular news conference earlier in the day that Brussels had “banned” the publication of vaccine procurement contracts by member states.

Gulyás added that he had turned to the commissioner in charge of the matter to allow member states to make the EC’s vaccine contracts publicly available.

In response, the EC office in Budapest said the publication of contracts was not in the EC’s gift, and this was only possible with the approval of contracted partners.