Hungary’s Covid death toll has risen to 25,381

Fully 197 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 2,680 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Monday.

So far 3,266,425 people have received a first jab, while 1,391,381 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 269,595, while hospitals are caring for 8,650 Covid patients, 1,052 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 45,132 people in official quarantine, while 5,144,130 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 753,188 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 25,381.

Fully 458,212 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.

Outdoor catering to restart when 3.5 m vaccinated

Bars and restaurants could again start serving customers outdoors when the number of Hungarians inoculated against Covid-19 reaches 3.5 million, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said.

Orbán also announced that while kindergartens would reopen and the lower grades of primary schools would return to their classrooms on April 19, 5-8 graders would stay at home and go on with their online classes until May 10.

The government has decided “to proceed gradually and carefully,” Orbán said, and asked parents for “patience and understanding”.

Further rules include:

• The curfew will last from 10 pm until 5 am;
• Shops will be able to stay open longer, until 9:30 pm;
• The shops (clothes shops, shops in malls, furniture shops) that have been closed can open, but there is now a square-metre basis. 1 costumer/10 square metres/shop;
• Temporary security measures involving several services will no longer be in effect, meaning that hairdressers and beauty salons and further services can also open – however, under different rules;
• Nevertheless, businesses of the hospitality sector still cannot open; only the employees can be present at the workplace. Customers can only enter the restaurant to pick up their order. Hotels will remain closed.

The current rules are applying to mask-wearing, gatherings, the hospitality sector, recreation centres, schools and the Schengen borders will remain in effect.

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Source: MTI