Number of deaths still brutal high, but Hungary reopens today

• PM Orbán: Vaccination is the only way to stop the virus

Based on his announcement, the future of restrictions to fight covid will be linked to the progress of the vaccination programme. According to this,

the first phase of reopening the country starts once 2.5 million jabs have been administered.

The government decided on this number to be the threshold based on their estimates of vaccinating all those over 65 who registered to get the vaccine by this time, reports portfolio.hu.

On the other hand, according to many experts, this 25% is very far from the desired 70-80% of herd immunity. Moreover, the Chief Medical Officer said last Friday that 80% of this group has already received at least their first jab, meaning that 20% of them need to be inoculated over the course of only some days.

In his interview on Good Friday, PM Viktor Orbán already referred to the big day when the country can finally start to open again. He gave a rather concrete date: one or two days after Easter Monday, shops and services can resume work.

Yesterday, Hungary  reached 2.5 million administered coronavirus vaccine doses, meaning that the gradual reopening of the country can start today. 

• read also: Hungary to start reopening after reaching 2.5 million inoculations – PM Orbán
• Hungary to start reopening tomorrow – here are the details!

Since the need for restrictions is linked to the situation of the pandemic, unless the government changes its mind and rewrites its own decree, here are the rules by which we will live, starting from today: 

• 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 are currently closed and have been since March 8 can open, on 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.

In the case of services requiring personal appearance, waiting in front of the business providing a service or in front of a shop in a mall, customers need to keep a distance of 1.5 metres.
Based on the decrees currently in effect,

the second phase of the reopening would happen on April 19,

with the reopening of schools and kindergartens. Certain organisations and experts, however, have asked the government to reconsider this decision.