Fully 98 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,145 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Sunday.
So far 4,288,641 people have received a first jab, while 2,488,118 have been fully vaccinated. Altogether 4.8 million people have registered for vaccines and 80% of them have already received at least one jab.
The number of active infections has declined to 194,778, while hospitals are treating 3,353 Covid patients, 403 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are 21,975 people in official quarantine, while around 5,528,240 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 791,709 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 28,602. Fully 568,329 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.
It added that vaccination would start in the second half of May with foreign residents in Hungary, with Hungarian nationals living in other countries to follow.
Hungary is among the first countries in the European Union to administer vaccines for this age group and the initial registrations have been successful. Over 84,000 people registered for the vaccination next week.
Those people between 16-18 who registered after Friday (May 7th midnight) will receive the jab, but they are queued with everyone else.
Is Hungary really at the forefront of worldwide vaccination?
The Hungarian government has long referred to itself as the flagship of the coronavirus vaccination, highlighting what a good decision it was to supplement Western vaccines with Eastern ones. But what does it mean to be at the forefront of vaccinations in the world?
Fully 106 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,541 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday.
So far 4,203,873 people have received a first jab, while 2,406,684 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections has declined to 206,949, while hospitals are treating 3,855 Covid patients, 445 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are 24,690 people in official quarantine, while 5,494,198 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 789,188 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 28,403. Fully 553,836 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.
It added that vaccination would start in the second half of May with foreign residents in Hungary, with Hungarian nationals living in other countries to follow.
Is Hungary really at the forefront of worldwide vaccination?
The Hungarian government has long referred to itself as the flagship of the coronavirus vaccination, highlighting what a good decision it was to supplement Western vaccines with Eastern ones. But what does it mean to be at the forefront of vaccinations in the world?
Fully 124 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,680 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.
So far 4,153,038 people have received a first jab, while 2,315,428 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections has declined to 213,104, while hospitals are treating 4,104 Covid patients, 485 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are 24,902 people in official quarantine, while 5,475,551 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 787,647 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 28,297. Fully 546,246 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.
It added that vaccination would start in the second half of May with foreign residents in Hungary, with Hungarian nationals living in other countries to follow.
As we wrote yesterday, the European Commission recommended allowing people fully inoculated with EU-recognised vaccines to be able to enter from any country, and said other vaccines could be added if they are approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The European Medicines Agency has authorised the use of shots by Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca in the EU.
The WHO has also approved those vaccines for use and is expected to decide on the use of two Chinese vaccines this week. Both agencies are considering Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The opposition Socialists said on Sunday that a “new era” was needed in Hungarian health care to be implemented through the “revolutionary programme” of the European Health Union.
Socialist MEP István Újhelyi told an online press conference on Facebook that the death of over 26,000 Hungarians caused by coronavirus
demonstrated the state of Hungary’s health-care system which he said directly resulted from “government carelessness” and policies that handled health care as a low priority.
He said the Socialists believe that access to health is a basic human right and the party accordingly gives highlighted priority to health-care service development in its programme.
The Socialists’ proposals include reduction of surgery waiting lists, the introduction of medicine subsidies based on social need, priority funding to ambulance services, the development of one-day health services and the introduction of financing that recognises the real costs of medical treatments, he said.
Újhelyi called for the introduction of a career model that ensures special benefits to lure back medical workers now in jobs abroad, and proposed that health spending should be defined as at least 7 percent of GDP.
Fully 101 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,593 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Sunday.
So far 4,064,204 people have received a first jab, while 2,016,350 have been fully vaccinated.The number of active infections has declined to 231,580, while hospitals are treating 5,031 Covid patients, 587 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are more than 28,989 people in official quarantine, while more than 5.4 million tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 782,892 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 27,802. Fully 523,510 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.
Hungary’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is about to enter a new phase after the number of inoculated with the first jab has reached 4 million:
16-18 year olds can now register for vaccines.
The evening-night curfew is pushed back to midnight, meaning that shops and eateries can stay open until 11 pm from Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio.
Eateries can reopen their indoor sections but can only serve customers with immunity certificates, Orbán said in his regular interview to Kossuth Rádió.
Hotels, leisure facilities, zoos, museums, cinemas, theatres, gyms and sporting venues can also open for people who have immunity certificates, but children who are not vaccination-age can enter with their parents.
The Netherlands has postponed a further easing of lockdown measures until at least May 18 as COVID-19 infections remain high and hospitals are struggling with large numbers of coronavirus patients, the government said on Saturday.
“We are passing the peak of the third wave. But the decline (of the infection rate) is not strong enough yet”, health minister Hugo de Jonge said on Twitter. The Netherlands eased its lockdown slightly last week, as a night-time curfew was lifted and bars and restaurants which had remained shut since mid-October were allowed to serve small groups outdoors between noon and 6 p.m.
Small audiences have also been allowed to attend concerts,
theater shows and soccer matches in recent weeks in an effort to see how events might safely be reopened.
In a next step, gyms, zoos and amusement parks would reopen on May 11, the government said last month, but this has now been postponed by a week at least. The government has not said when it will take any decision on further easing.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Dutch intensive care wards has climbed in recent weeks
to its highest in a year as coronavirus infections swelled to levels last seen at the start of the year.
As of Friday, 2,706 coronavirus patients in the country of 17 million were in hospital, with 807 needing intensive care. Since the start of the pandemic, around 1.5 million coronavirus infections have been confirmed in the Netherlands, with more than 20,000 deaths.
Fully 161 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,951 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Saturday.
So far 4,023,137 people have received a first jab, while 1,948,728 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections has declined to 236,572, while hospitals are treating 5,191 Covid patients, 621 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are more than 30 thousand people in official quarantine, while more than 5.3 million tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 781,299 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 27,701. Fully 517,026 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.
Hungary’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is about to enter a new phase, with the start of the evening-night curfew being pushed back to midnight and shops and eateries staying open until 11pm from Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio.
Eateries will also be allowed to reopen their indoor sections and serve customers with immunity certificates, Orbán said in his regular interview to Kossuth Rádió.
Hotels, leisure facilities, zoos, museums, cinemas, theatres, gyms and sporting venues will also reopen and can be visited by accompanied minors, he said.
Fully 182 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 2,365 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.
So far 3,913,550 people have received a first jab, while 1,880,897 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections has declined to 241,429, while hospitals are treating 5,937 Covid patients, 677 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are 32,838 people in official quarantine, while 5,373,540 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 779,348 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 27,540. Fully 510,379 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.
Hungary’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is about to enter a new phase, with the start of the evening-night curfew being pushed back to midnight and shops and eateries staying open until 11pm from Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio.
Eateries will also be allowed to reopen their indoor sections and serve customers with immunity certificates, Orbán said in his regular interview to Kossuth Radio.
Hotels, leisure facilities, zoos, museums, cinemas, theatres, gyms and sporting venues will also reopen and can be visited by accompanied minors, he said.
Fully 186 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 2,584 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.
So far 3,870,222 people have received a first jab, while 1,822,655 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections went down to 245,928, while hospitals are treating 5,554 Covid patients, 662 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are 31,133 people in official quarantine, while 5,349,792 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 776,983 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 27,358. Fully 503,697 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.
The number of Hungarians vaccinated against Covid-19 reached 3.5 million last week, so restaurant and bar terraces have opened this Saturday.
Gergely Gulyás told a press briefing that open-air facilities, similarly to shops, can stay open until 9.30pm, while the night-time curfew will begin an hour later at 11pm.
Reopening catering facilities is “the first step towards regaining freedom”, Gulyás said, adding that he hoped faster steps could follow. He added that “a large amount of vaccine is expected to arrive soon”.
One million doses of the Chinese vaccine arrive this week, as well as 200,000 first doses of the Russian vaccine, Gulyás said, adding that the second dose of the latter would follow promptly.
Over 300,000 doses of Pfizer also arrive this week, he added. So far, some 4.4 million have registered for the vaccine and 73% of them have received their jabs. Hungary will need some 6 million people vaccinated to reach herd immunity, he added.
India’s toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, the country’s deadliest day, as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new infections.
The second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and fuelling an increasingly urgent international response.
The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world’s largest single-day total, taking India’s tally of infections to nearly 18 million. It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities carrying the toll to 201,187. Experts believe the official tally vastly
underestimates the actual toll in a nation of 1.35 billion, however.
The world is entering a critical phase of the pandemic and needs to have vaccinations available for all adults as soon as possible, said Udaya Regmi, South Asia head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“This is both an ethical and public health imperative,” he added. “As variants keep spreading, this pandemic is far from over until the whole world is safe.” Ambulances lined up for hours in the capital, New Delhi, to take the bodies of COVID-19 victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking lots, where bodies burned on rows of funeral pyres.
Coronavirus sufferers, many struggling for breath, flocked to a Sikh temple on the city’s outskirts, hoping to secure some of its limited supplies of oxygen.
Hospitals in and around the capital said oxygen remained scarce, despite commitments to step up supplies. “We make hundreds of calls and send messages every day to get our daily quota of oxygen,” Dr Devlina Chakravarty, of the Artemis hospital in the suburb of Gurgaon, wrote in the Times of India newspaper.
The Mayom Hospital nearby has stopped new admissions unless patients brought oxygen cylinders or concentrators with them, its chief executive, Manish Prakash, told television channel NDTV. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people were falling sick more severely and for longer, stacking up the pressure.
“The current wave is particularly dangerous,”
he said.
“It is supremely contagious and those who are contracting it are not able to recover as swiftly. In these conditions, intensive care wards are in great demand.”
SUPPLIES INCOMING
Supplies arriving in New Delhi included ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain, with more sent from Australia, Germany and Ireland, while Singapore and Russia pledged oxygen cylinders and medical supplies. “First shipment of oxygen generators from #Taiwan to #India is leaving this week,” Kolas Yotaka, a spokeswoman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, said on Twitter. “We are all in this together.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed $10 million,
adding on Twitter, “We stand ready to donate extra medical supplies, too.”
Credit rating agency S&P Global said India’s second wave of infections could impede its economic recovery and expose other nations to further waves of outbreaks. The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, was susceptible to contagion from the highly infectious variants in India, given the region’s low ratios of vaccination, it added.
Tech firms in the southern city of Bengaluru and elsewhere set up “war rooms” as they scrambled to source oxygen, medicine and hospital beds for infected workers and maintain backroom operations for the world’s biggest financial firms.
Epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee called for much larger lockdowns to slow the spread.
“At this point, lives are so much more important than livelihoods,” the University of Michigan professor said on Twitter. “Provide assistance to the poor, but please lock down and vaccinate.”
Vaccinations in a national campaign begun in January have averaged about 2.8 million doses a day since an April 5 peak of 4.5 million, government data shows.
More than 121 million people have received at least one dose, or about 9% of the population. Later on Wednesday, India will allow all above 18 to register for vaccination, starting from May 1. About 800 million are estimated to become eligible.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he had spoken at length with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues such as when the United States would be able to ship vaccines to the South Asian nation, and added that it was his clear intention to do so.
“I think we’ll be in a position to be able to share, share vaccines, as well as know-how, with other countries who are in real need. That’s the hope and expectation,” he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
Fully 188 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,692 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday. So far 3,774,221 people have received a first jab, while 1,773,900 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections stands at 250,143, while hospitals are treating 5,907 Covid patients, 702 of whom need respiratory assistance. There are 33,429 people in official quarantine, while 5,327,413 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 774,399 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 27,172. Fully 497,084 people have made a recovery. So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, Gyor-Moson-Sopron and Hajdu-Bihar.
Human resources minister welcomes WHO’s immunisation strategy
Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler on Monday welcomed the World Health Organisation’s new Immunization Agenda 2030 strategy, saying it would help save more than 50 million people over the next decade.
“Vaccines in the current phase of the fight against the pandemic mean hope and life in our country and the world over,” Kásler said in a video on Facebook.
“It is in this spirit that I encourage my compatriots to take the vaccine.”
The minister noted that the new strategy was introduced by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as part of the organisation’s World Immunization Week 2021 campaign.
Terraces have opened on Saturday
The number of Hungarians vaccinated against Covid-19 reached 3.5 million yesterday, so restaurant and bar terraces have opened this Saturday.
Gergely Gulyás told a press briefing on Thursday that open-air facilities, similarly to shops, can stay open until 9.30pm, while the night-time curfew will begin an hour later at 11pm. Reopening catering facilities is “the first step towards regaining freedom”, Gulyás said, adding that he hoped faster steps could follow.
He added that “a large amount of vaccine is expected to arrive soon”.
During the next week one million doses of the Chinese vaccine will arrive, as well as 200,000 first doses of the Russian vaccine, Gulyás said, adding that the second dose of the latter would follow promptly. Over 300,000 doses of Pfizer will also arrive next week, he added.
So far, some 4.4 million have registered for the vaccine and 73% of them have received their jabs. Hungary will need some 6 million people vaccinated to reach herd immunity, he added.
Germany’s coronavirus infection rate rose at the weekend despite stricter restrictions and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said he did not expect moves to ease curbs before the end of May.
“We need a timetable how to get back to normal life, but it must be a plan that won’t have to be revoked after just a few days,” Scholz told Bild am Sonntag.
The federal government should be able to outline “clear and courageous opening steps” for the summer by the end of May, allowing restaurants to adjust reopening plans and citizens to plan holidays, he said.
Scholz said the steps would also clarify when visits to concerts, theatres and soccer stadiums would be possible.
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday urged Germans to stick to tougher rules imposed in areas with high infection rates, saying measures imposed at the weekend were needed to break a third wave of infections.
Germany is struggling to contain infections, complicated by the more contagious B117 variant that first emerged in Britain. It also follows a relatively slow start to Germany’s vaccination campaign.
Germany’s seven-day average of cases per 100,000 people rose to 166 at the weekend, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Sunday.
Parliament approved amendments to the Infection Protection Act last week to give the federal government more powers in the pandemic. Merkel drew up the changes after some of the 16 federal states refused to implement tougher measures.
The new law enables the government to impose curfews between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in districts where cases exceed 100 per 100,000 residents on three consecutive days. The rules also include stricter limits to private gatherings and shopping.
Schools will have to close and return to online lessons if cases reach 165 per 100,000 residents on three consecutive days.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler said he could “feel for the first time in a long time that doctors and nurses are relieved and very hopeful” about the coronavirus pandemic.
The minister posted this after visiting two hospitals in Sárvár and Szombathely, both in western Hungary.
Kásler said he had visited several hospitals in Hungary over the past few weeks in order to get personal impressions about the hospital equipment and the way healthcare staff are meeting the challenges during the pandemic.
“I had the same impressions in Sárvár: according to the people working here, all the equipment needed is at their disposal, and they believe that the pandemic has entered a declining phase,” he said.
He said the most important task of the Sárvár hospital is to perform vaccinations and to prepare to provide post-covid care.
He added that the Szombathely hospital will play a significant role in the national programme for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called on Germans to stick to tighter coronavirus restrictions imposed in areas with high infection rates over the weekend, saying the step was needed to break a third wave of infections.
Both chambers of parliament approved the amendments to the Infection Protection Act earlier this week to give the federal government more powers to fight the third wave in the pandemic. Merkel drew up the law after
some of the 16 federal states refused to implement tougher measures
despite a surge in COVID-19 cases and in defiance of a lockdown agreement reached in March. “This is something new in our fight against the pandemic. And I am convinced that it’s urgently needed,” Merkel said in her weekly video podcast.
“It serves the goal of first slowing down the third wave of the pandemic, then stopping it and finally reversing it.”
Like many other European countries, Germany is struggling to contain an aggressive third wave of cases, with efforts being complicated by the more contagious B117 variant, which first emerged in the UK, and a relatively slow vaccination start.
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
To stop the spread of other variants, Germany has classified India as a new coronavirus “high incidence area” due to the number of infections there, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Friday. People returning to Germany from high incidence areas must register with the authorities before travelling and then
quarantine for 14 days on their return.
“In order not to endanger our vaccination campaign, travel to India must be significantly restricted,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told Funke media group.
From Monday, Germans coming from India will only be allowed to enter the country with a negative test result and then go into quarantine while foreign travellers coming from India will no longer be allowed to enter, Spahn said. If the number of infections goes down in the coming weeks, systematic testing will help to enable a controlled and sustainable loosening of restrictions, Merkel promised.
It is the key to overcoming the pandemic,” the chancellor added. “I am convinced that if we can now manage to reduce infections significantly and quickly, we will be able to relax them step by step in the foreseeable future,” Merkel said.
“Let us now do what is necessary again and together show each other respect and responsibility,” she added. The new law enables the government to impose curfews between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in areas where the virus incidence exceeds 100 cases per 100,000 residents on three days in a row. The rules include stricter limits to private gatherings, sport and shop openings.
Schools will have to close and return to online lessons if the virus incidence exceeds 165 cases per 100,000 residents on three days in a row. Factories and offices remain open, with employers expected to enable most employees to work from home and to offer frequent coronavirus tests for those who cannot work remotely.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 23,392 over the past 24
hours to 3,268,645, data from RKI showed on Saturday. The nationwide seven-day average of cases per 100,000 people stood roughly unchanged at 164.
PM Viktor Orbán mentioned many sectors and services in which immunity certificates will be inevitable in the next few months. If the number of inoculated people reaches 4 million, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, and bars will reopen. But only those can enter who already have the plastic card. That means mostly the elderly since the Hungarian inoculation program focused on their protection.
According totelex.hu, those can receive an immunity certificate currently who recovered from the illness and have official proof of it. Furthermore, those who can prove that there are antibodies in their blood or who already got their first dose can also get the certificate. However, it is not all the same where the jab was administered.
One of their readers wrote that he and his wife both received Pfizer shots in Serbia, but the Hungarian authorities do not acknowledge the relevant certificate. The National Public Health Centre wrote them an email saying that Hungary does not register those Hungarians who received any vaccines abroad. Therefore, it is a
prerequisite for the immunity certificate that the person receive the shots in Hungary.
The question is what happens with those who were inoculated in e.g. Dubai, who are soldiers and currently serve somewhere abroad, or work as diplomats. Furthermore, it seems that nobody knows whether double citizens or foreign citizens having a Hungarian health insurance number and working in the country
can receive a certificate if they got any or all the jabs abroad.
Finally, it also remains a question whether Hungarian authorities will inoculate foreign/EEA citizens living in Hungary or not. If not, do authorities accept a foreign certificate of inoculation issued by any country or do those concerned have to get further jabs in Hungary to go to the cinemas, theatres, bars, restaurants?
Since there are more questions than answers, they sent all of them to the chief medical officer
India’s coronavirus infections rose by 346,786 overnight, the health ministry said on Saturday, setting a new world record for the third consecutive day, as overwhelmed hospitals in the densely-populated country begged for oxygen supplies.
India is in the grip of a rampaging second wave of the pandemic, hitting a rate of one COVID-19 death in just under every four minutes in Delhi as the capital’s underfunded health system buckles. The government has deployed military planes and trains to get oxygen from the far corners of the country to Delhi.
Television showed an oxygen truck arriving at Delhi’s Batra hospital after it issued an SOS saying it
had 90 minutes of oxygen left for its 260 patients.
“Please help us get oxygen, there will be a tragedy here,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a conference on Friday. The crisis is also being felt in other parts of the country, with several hospitals issuing public notices that they don’t have medical oxygen. Local media reported fresh cases of people dying in the cities of Jaipur and Amritsar for lack of the gas.
India surpassed the U.S. record of 297,430 single-day infections anywhere in the world
on Thursday, making it the global epicentre of a pandemic that is waning in many other countries. The Indian government had itself declared it had beaten back the coronavirus in February when new cases fell to all time lows.
However, COVID-19 deaths across India rose by 2,624 over the past 24 hours, the highest daily rate for the country so far. Crematoriums across Delhi said they were full up and asked grieving families to wait. The country of around 1.3 billion has now recorded a total of 16.6 million cases, including 189,544 deaths.
Health experts said India became complacent in the winter, when new cases were running at about 10,000 a day and
seemed to be under control, lifting restrictions that allowed for the resumption of big gatherings.
Others said that it could also be a more dangerous variant of the virus coursing through the world’s second most populous country where people live in close proximity, often six to a room.
“While complacency in adhering to masks and physical distancing might have played a role, it seems increasingly likely that this second wave has been fuelled by a much more virulent strain,” wrote Vikram Patel, Professor of Global Health at Harvard Medical School, in the Indian Express.
WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said
reducing transmission in India would be a “very difficult task”
but the government was working on limiting mixing between people, which he said was essential.
Fully 212 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 2,796 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Saturday.
So far 3,576,705 people have received a first jab, while 1,552,685 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections stands at 262,447, while hospitals are treating 6,737 Covid patients, 813 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are more than 40 thousand people in official quarantine, while more than 5.2 million tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 767,190 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 26,420. Fully 478,323 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.
koronavirus.gov.hu
Terraces open today
The number of Hungarians vaccinated against Covid-19 reached 3.5 million today, so restaurant and bar terraces may open today.
Gergely Gulyás told a press briefing on Thursday that open-air facilities, similarly to shops, will stay open until 9.30pm, while the night-time curfew will begin an hour later at 11pm. Reopening catering facilities is “the first step towards regaining freedom”, Gulyás said, adding that he hoped faster steps could follow.
He added that “a large amount of vaccine is expected to arrive soon”.
During the next week one million doses of the Chinese vaccine will arrive, as well as 200,000 first doses of the Russian vaccine, Gulyás said, adding that the second dose of the latter would follow promptly.
Over 300,000 doses of Pfizer will also arrive next week, he added. So far, some 4.4 million have registered for the vaccine. Hungary will need some 6 million people vaccinated to reach herd immunity, he added. Read more HERE.
Hungary opens services next week, but only for those who have a certificate of immunity
Orbán told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that by the middle of next week, around four million shots will have been administered, and a wide range of services will be available for people with vaccine certificates.
Venues open to people with certificates will include theaters, dance and music venues, circuses, gyms, zoos, spas and swimming pools, sports venues and adventure parks, the prime minister said.
Fully 207 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 3,427 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.
So far 3,508,846 people have received a first jab, while 1,490,478 have been fully vaccinated.
The number of active infections stands at 264,039, while hospitals are treating 7,177 Covid patients, 844 of whom need respiratory assistance.
There are 42,182 people in official quarantine, while 5,233,530 tests have been officially carried out.
Since the first outbreak, 764,394 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 26,208. Fully 474,147 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.
Terraces open tomorrow
The number of Hungarians vaccinated against Covid-19 reached 3.5 million today, so restaurant and bar terraces may open tomorrow.
Gergely Gulyás told a press briefing yesterday that open-air facilities, similarly to shops, will stay open until 9.30pm, while the night-time curfew will begin an hour later at 11pm. Reopening catering facilities is “the first step towards regaining freedom”, Gulyás said, adding that he hoped faster steps could follow.
He added that “a large amount of vaccine is expected to arrive soon”.
During the next week one million doses of the Chinese vaccine will arrive, as well as 200,000 first doses of the Russian vaccine, Gulyás said, adding that the second dose of the latter would follow promptly.
Over 300,000 doses of Pfizer will also arrive next week, he added. So far, some 4.4 million have registered for the vaccine. Hungary will need some 6 million people vaccinated to reach herd immunity, he added. Read more HERE.
Hungary opens services next week, but only for those who have a certificate of immunity
Orbán told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio that by the middle of next week, around four million shots will have been administered, and a wide range of services will be available for people with vaccine certificates.
Venues open to people with certificates will include theaters, dance and music venues, circuses, gyms, zoos, spas and swimming pools, sports venues and adventure parks, the prime minister said.
