PM Orbán says no room to ease lockdown measures as coronavirus infections rise

Hungary has no room to loosen lockdown measures yet due to a rise in coronavirus infections, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday, adding doctors would start vaccinating pregnant women with Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines.

Orbán said the government planned to limit the number of shoppers allowed in shops from the weekend, while possibly keeping shops open longer in the evening. The decisions will be published on Saturday.

Hungary reported a record high daily tally of 275 COVID-19 deaths on Friday.

Its hospitals are under “extraordinary” pressure, its surgeon general said on Wednesday, as the country became a hotspot in the third wave of a pandemic that has hit Central Europe especially hard.

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Orbán said it was hard to predict when the third wave of the pandemic, which swept the region fuelled by the spread of the more contagious variant of the virus first discovered in Britain, would peak. He said the main question was how fast infections can start dropping once the peak is passed.

“The next 1-2 weeks will be hard,” he told state radio.

He added, though, that there was a “realistic chance” of schools reopening from April 19, once teachers and staff have been vaccinated.

Orbán said by now, 71% of those aged above 65 years who have registered for a shot have been vaccinated, and a total of 1.8 million people got at least a first dose of a vaccine in the country of 10 million.

The Hungarian Medical Chamber warned people earlier this week to limit shopping to once a week, if possible, avoid public transport and postpone any non-essential domestic travel.

“We have been leading the world in death rates as a share of the population for days, most hospital departments now serve as COVID departments, intensive care units are under a multiple overload,” it said.

Some 500 volunteers have joined the protective efforts and 1,200 medical students are also at work, he said. So far, it has not been necessary to involve commuters who work mostly near Hungary’s western borders, he added.

Hungary has vast vaccination capacity and GPs have been performing well in administering the jabs, Orbán said.

“Everybody is tired, frustrated and can hardly wait to become free, which is why we aim to give people exact points of reference. In a modern democracy everybody is free to say whatever they like; but it is the chief medical officer and the government that are continually communicating credible information,” he said.

“We are going to have a free summer,” Orbán said, adding, however, that certain events may only be attended with an immunity certificate.

Read alsoCoronavirus – Hungary among countries with highest mortality rates in the world

Source: Reuters, MTI