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The coronavirus pandemic is the deadliest in Hungary?

semmelweis hospital

According to today’s data, since the outbreak of the coronavirus, 26,000 people have officially died in Hungary due to the disease. With this, we have overtaken the Czech Republic in terms of population-related mortality, so the epidemic is now the deadliest in our country.

Although Portfolio highlights that data comparison is hampered by methodological problems, it is certain that in light of the government’s formal determination of success rates in human lives, tackling the epidemic can hardly be called a triumph. Let’s see the newest statistics:

Fully 214 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 3,607 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said.

So far 3,419,450 people have received a first jab, while 1,453,300 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 265,374, while hospitals are caring for 7,507 Covid patients, 876 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 41,857 people in official quarantine, while 5,205,923 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 760,967 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 26,001. Fully 469,592 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 government wants to vaccinate everybody above 45

GPs received two emails about the new program from the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary on Tuesday. Their content is that since large quantities of vaccines are expected to arrive in Hungary at the end of April, the government plans to inoculate everybody above 45 in only ten days.

Read more HERE.

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. T

he 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.

Read more about Covid-19 in Hungary HERE!

Breaking – government wants to vaccinate everybody above 45

traffic Budapest Hungary transport tram

GPs received two emails about the new program from the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary on Tuesday. Their content is that since large quantities of vaccines are expected to arrive in Hungary at the end of April, the government plans to inoculate everybody above 45 in only ten days.

According to telex.hu, news came on Monday that Botond Sára, leader of the Budapest Metropolitan Government Office, promised money for the GPs if they use Sinopharm, but later the central team denied that.

István György, head of the central team, wrote in the emails that the government plans mass inoculation

between April 26-30, and May 3-5.

He clears that, thanks to the large quantities of vaccines expected to arrive in the next few days, the program needs the active cooperation of the whole Hungarian healthcare system.

However, based on Budapest GPs, many of the people refuse to accept Sinopharm vaccines. Telex.hu wrote before that there are GPs who care for more than 2,000 people, but they could convince only a few dozens of them to take the Chinese jab.

The news website says that, based on the letters, the government would like to inoculate all those who registered and are above 45.

That is probably because the new variants of the virus are more dangerous for the younger generations than the original one starting to spread last spring.

The more people get vaccinated, the faster “normal life” can return and the stronger protection can be gained against a fourth wave of the pandemic, the state secretary for regional public administration said on Wednesday.

István György, who is also the head of the central team in charge of the national vaccination programme, told an online press conference that

the number of people vaccinated exceeded 3.36 million, close to 60 percent of whom are older than 60.

He noted that more than 90 percent of those who registered for vaccination in this age group have received their jabs, noting that “a few ten thousand” of them with an acute underlying illness could not be subject to receiving any type of vaccine.

As regards the age group of 18-54, György noted that 54 percent of the 2,362,000 who registered for vaccination have received their jabs.

An acceleration of the vaccination drive is expected from the weekend with the arrival of a consignment of 600,000 doses of Sinopharm,

he said.

György said that the government was introducing a pilot system for vaccination reservation. In the first round, some 70,000 residents in and near Budapest, in Pécs, Debrecen and Szeged can participate, he said. They will be sent a text message on Wednesday which they can use to book online their vaccination for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nearly 1.5 m vaccine doses to arrive from Russia, China soon – UPDATED

Some 1.48 million doses of vaccine are scheduled to arrive in Hungary from Russia and China in the next ten days, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday.

After consultations with WHO Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge, Szijjártó told a joint press conference that 600,000 doses of vaccine are scheduled to arrive from China on Saturday, which will be the largest shipment since the start of the pandemic. Early next week, some 280,000 doses of the second-component Sputnik vaccine is scheduled to arrive from Russia, he added.

In the second half of next week, an additional 400,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine will arrive, in addition to

a shipment of 100,000 doses bought for Georgia,

he said. Additionally, 200,000 first-component Sputnik vaccine is also scheduled to arrive in the second half of next week, Szijjártó said.

Hungary will have received 2.1 million Chinese jabs by the end of April, some 600,000 doses more than originally contracted, he said. This will help address the situation resulting from the withdrawal of a western supplier, he added.

Szijjártó said Hungary had been regularly consulting with the WHO during the anti-pandemic efforts and acted in line with the organisation’s standards. He added that

Hungary was at the front of the European list in terms of the percentage of vaccinated population.

He expressed thanks to health workers and everyone involved in the logictics of vaccine supplies and added that sufficient volumes were available to continue the vaccination drive.

Szijjártó also thanked the WHO for “staying fair and correct throughout the period and not rising to politically-motivated attempts to provoke sentiments, handling vaccines as the most important means to save lives, with the only concern kept in mind that they are safe and effective”. “Hungary has made its decisions in the same spirit,” he added.

Kluge welcomed Hungary’s measures and its “exemplary” vaccination drive.

He said the government’s measures were designed to protect both individuals and businesses. Vaccination is considered a life-saving measure in Hungary and it “surpasses geo-political interests”, he said. He noted that Hungary’s vaccination rate was well above the European average and added that by the end of May all registered Hungarians could be inoculated.

Concerning the steps of re-opening, Kluge said that they should be determined by changes in the pandemic, adding that schools should be closed last and reopened first.

Later in the day, Kluge will meet Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Miklos Kasler, the human resources minister.

Concerning the steps of re-opening, Kluge said that they should be determined by changes in the pandemic, adding that schools should be closed last and reopened first.

After the meeting, Kluge and Ledia Lazeri, the head of WHO’s Budapest office, visited Budapest’s Koranyi Pulmonology Institute (OKPI) and praised the work done there, as well as the “heroic” work of Hungarian health-care workers. “As a doctor, I was looking forward to this visit very much.

What I experienced here is fascinating,” Kluge said.

“OKPI, as a figurehead of the fight against tubercolosis in Hungary, has had a key role in experiments on the WHO’s new models. They successfully employed those experiences in the fight against the coronavirus as well.”

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”.

Hungary past the worst, but the number of deaths high – latest data

coronavirus-hungary hospital ventilator
Fully 207 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 2,527 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday. So far 3,363,596 people have received a first jab, while 1,425,124 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 266,823, while hospitals are caring for 8,097 Covid patients, 925 of whom need respiratory assistance. There are 42,068 people in official quarantine, while 5,179,517 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 757,360 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 25,787. Fully 464,750 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 map coronavirus
https://koronavirus.gov.hu/terkepek/fertozottek

Vaccination drive

The vaccination drive in Hungary is progressing twice as fast as in other EU member states which proves that the scheme has been organised well, the state secretary heading the central team in charge of the vaccination programme said in daily Magyar Nemzet’s Monday edition.

So far over 3.25 million Hungarians have received at least their first jab and 1.4 million have been fully inoculated, István György told the paper. Fully 2 million of those inoculated received a Western vaccine and the rest a Chinese or a Russian one, he said.

“The Eastern vaccines are effective and safe, Hungarian authorities are running control tests on each consignment,” György said.

He said involving GPs in the vaccination drive and assigning buses to reach people in rural areas as mobile labs proved to be the right decision.

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.

“Hungarians take our Sputnik” says Slovak SNS chairman in a video

Slovak Szlovák SNS elnök Chairman Hungary Sputnik

The case goes back to Monday, April 12, when Hungarian trucks have arrived at Szentmihályfalva (Šarišské Michaľany) at the facility of Imuna Pharm, where the 200,000 Sputnik V vaccines were stored.

According to Újszó, even though the drivers asked the employees of the facility to load the altogether 37 pallets of vaccines onto the Hungarian trucks, because they are going to deliver them to Hungary for inspection, the employees of Imuna Pharma did not comply with this.

Later, on Wednesday, the company have sent 46 vials of vaccine to a Hungarian laboratory after receiving instruction from the Slovak health ministry. The Hungarian trucks however have stayed there even on Friday.

In his video posted on Facebook, the chairman of the Slovak SNS party, Andrej Danko has stated that the Hungarian trucks are at the facility of Imuna Pharm not because they are going to take the vials for inspection, but because the Hungarian trucks will transport the 200,000 Sputnik V vaccine to Hungary for good, reported Újszó.

https://www.facebook.com/andrejdanko.sk/videos/1153121781893439

“Slovakia has lost the Sputnik vaccines definitively” – said Danko.

Apparently, according to Index, the Hungarians have acquisitioned the Sputnik V vaccines that Slovakia do not need through the Russians and the trucks were there to ship the 37 pallets full of vaccines to Hungary.

According to Andrej Danko, the chairman of the Slovak SNS party, the Hungarians might soon release the Sputnik vaccines at issue to the market.

In his closing accord, the chairman says that he hopes that Russia will pardon Slovakia concerning the issue and Andrej Danko also states that the only way for Igor Matovič would be an early election. Igor Matovič has recently declared his resignation from his title of the Prime Minister of Slovakia.

pozsony bratislava slovakia
Read alsoSlovakia reopens shops, churches, libraries, pools and other services

Australia with low COVID-19 numbers is in no hurry to reopen borders

Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Vakcina Oltás Coronavirus Koronavírus

Australia is in no hurry to reopen its international borders and risk the country’s nearly coronavirus-free lifestyle, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.

Australia closed its borders to all non-citizens and non-residents in March 2020 and has been permitting only limited international arrivals in recent months, mainly its citizens returning from abroad.

The border closure, together with snap lockdowns, swift contact tracking and high community compliance with health measures, have made Australia one of the world’s most successful countries in curbing the pandemic, limiting coronavirus cases to under 29,500 infections and 910 deaths.

“Australia is in no hurry to open those borders, I assure you,” Morrison said at a televised briefing.

“I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country which is so different to the rest of the world today.”

For months now, except for some short snap lockdowns, Australians have been able to dine out, gather nearly freely and stop wearing face masks in most places.

They exchanged their international forays for local trips, with government figures showing big annual increases in intra-state travel in the first months of 2021.

From Monday, Australians and neighbouring New Zealanders will be able to travel between both countries without the need to apply for an exemption or spend time in mandatory quarantine.

New Zealand has had only 2,239 confirmed coronavirus cases and 26 related deaths.

Morrison flagged on Sunday that vaccinated Australians could be able travel overseas “for essential purposes” and return via home quarantine in the second half of the year, but that possibility is only in “planning stages”.

Australia recently abandoned a goal to vaccinate nearly all of its 26 million population by the end of 2021 following advice that people under the age of 50 take Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine rather than AstraZeneca’s shot.

astrazeneca-hungary-vaccine
Read alsoAustralia reconsiders vaccination target following new advice on AstraZeneca

India’s capital is overwhelmed by COVID-19, help is necessary

india_koronavírus_coronavirus_pandemic_testing_tesztelés_vaccine_vakcina

India’s capital New Delhi recorded 25,500 coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period, with about one in three people tested returning a positive result, its chief minister said, urging the federal government to urgently provide more hospital beds to tackle the crisis.

Arvind Kejriwal told a news conference the high number of cases in the capital was a concern.

“The bigger worry is that in last 24 hours positivity rate has increased to around 30% from 24%,” Kejriwal said. “The cases are rising very rapidly. The beds are filling fast.”

Kejriwal said intensive care unit beds are in short supply, with less than 100 left for coronavirus patients.

The grim situation can only be tackled if the federal government, the city government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi work together, he said.

Nationwide, India reported 261,500 new cases on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to nearly 14.8 million, second only to the United States, which has reported more than 31 million infections.

The country’s deaths from COVID-19 rose by a record 1,501 to reach a total of 177,150, the data showed.

Hit by the spread of more contagious variants of the disease, India is grappling with a severe shortage of oxygen supplies and critical medicines such as the anti-viral drug Remdesivir, as well as beds.

Concerned by the surge in cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked authorities to pull out all the stops to ramp up production of COVID-19 vaccines.

Modi also reviewed his administration’s overall preparedness and stressed the need to ensure the availability of hospital beds and the supplies of oxygen and ventilators. He also asked his team to work closely with local governments, especially the 12 states ravaged by the latest wave in cases.

But opposition parties, including the Congress party, criticised Modi for addressing large election rallies to help his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the state assembly election in the eastern state of West Bengal.

Addressing a large gathering of his supporters in West Bengal on Saturday, Modi said: “I can see a sea of masses. I haven’t seen a rally like this.”

The Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party, which is in power in the capital, New Delhi, mocked Modi’s political rallies by posting pictures on social media of funeral pyres at overburdened crematoriums of the city.

“The delight of the PM (prime minister) at the sight of a large crowd at his election meeting in Asansol (West Bengal) in Covid times could have come only from a person who is completely insensitive,” Yashwant Sinha, a former cabinet minister who broke away from the BJP, said on Twitter. “I deplore his remarks.”

Faced with shortages of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders, people used Twitter to seek help and post pictures of overwhelmed hospitals.

Adding to the crisis, at least five coronavirus patients died in a hospital fire late on Saturday in Raipur, the capital of the central state of Chhattisgarh.

Surviving patients were evacuated to other coronavirus facilities, said Tarkeshwar Patel, additional superintendent of police of Raipur.

coronavirus-in-hungary-restaurant
Read alsoDetails about the next phase of easing in Hungary!

Number of infections dropped by one quarter on Sunday in Hungary

Coronavirus Test Koronavírus Teszt Vaccine Vakcina Oltás

Fully 205 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 3,706 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Sunday.

So far 3,252,579 people have received a first jab, while 1,385,898 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 270,295, while hospitals are caring for 8,445 Covid patients, 1,051 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 47,751 people in official quarantine, while 5,124,731 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 750,508 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 25,184. Fully 455,029 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.

coronavirus_map_térkép_koronavírus
Source: koronavirus.gov.hu/terkepek/fertozottek

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 on Facebook on Wednesday.

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 and newer decisions are expected on April 19th.

coronavirus-in-hungary-restaurant
Read alsoDetails about the next phase of easing in Hungary!

France past the worst of the third wave?

paris france

The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units in France has fallen and the number of patients in hospital has also dropped, the health ministry said on Saturday, in a sign that pressure on the medical system is easing.

Health ministry data showed that 5,877 people were in intensive care units with COVID-19 on Saturday, 37 fewer than on Friday. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital fell by 143 to 30,329, the fifth consecutive fall.

France imposed a third nationwide lockdown this month

to try to stem its third wave of infections.

It registered 189 new daily coronavirus deaths in hospitals in the space of 24 hours. Overall, France’s COVID-19 death toll breached the 100,000 mark on Thursday,

the eighth-highest in the world.

There were 35,861 new confirmed coronavirus cases, health ministry data showed. About 12.3 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

“We’re in a phase that looks more like a plateau than an improvement (of the situation),” Bruno Lima, a member of the scientific body advising the government on the COVID-19 pandemic, told the news channel BFM TV.

Will children be vaccinated in the USA shortly?

Tristen Sweeten, a 34-year-old nurse in Utah, hopes her three children will receive Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine through its pediatric clinical trial. The sooner the better, she said, for their safety and the greater goal of ending the pandemic.

Angie Ankoma, a 45-year-old Black mother of four who works in philanthropy in Rhode Island, believes trials must include diverse populations and participated in one for a COVID-19 vaccine herself. Volunteering her kids for possible inclusion in Moderna’s trial was a tougher call.

Sweeten and Ankoma are among thousands of U.S. parents who volunteered to have their children participate in new trials run by Pfizer with BioNTech or Moderna,

the first companies making strides toward developing a safe COVID-19 vaccine for the country’s 48 million children under age 12.

Health officials say vaccines are crucial to ending the pandemic. But many are concerned vaccine hesitancy in some adults will be even more pronounced when it comes to their children. Parents may question the risks versus benefits, given the unknowns about the vaccines’ long-term impact on children’s’ development and data on how few young kids have been hit hard by COVID-19.

To ease those concerns, some scientists say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should slow the review process for pediatric COVID-19 vaccines.

Pfizer spokeswoman Jerica Pitts said it was premature to speculate on an approval pathway for children, but the company plans to work with public health institutions to promote the importance of vaccines.

Moderna research scientist Dr. Jacqueline Miller said the company has talked to the FDA about the best way to clear the vaccine for use in kids. She said the company hopes to make the vaccine available to children through emergency use authorization (EUA) that got it to U.S. adults in record time, in part to be able to get kids back to school “and the things that they all are longing to be doing.”

Sweeten’s husband Scott is a clinical researcher whose company has worked on the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca adult vaccine trials, so the couple, whose children are ages 5, 8 and 10, are comfortable with how they were developed, Tristen said.

“We feel like they’re very safe,” she said.

Ankoma consulted her pediatrician given her nagging doubts about unknown long-term effects. She ultimately decided the risk was worth it to immunize her four kids, ages 7 to 16.

“It was easier for me to decide for myself than it was for the kids, because…it was my own body,” she said.

‘THAT GOLDILOCKS MOMENT’

Researchers leading pediatric trials for Moderna and Pfizer in children as young as 6 months feel confident the vaccines will be just as safe and effective for children as they have been for adults.

Pfizer’s vaccine, already available to people aged 16 and up in most U.S. states, was found to work well in children 12 to 15 and may receive regulatory authorization for that age group as soon as next month. Moderna and Pfizer have said vaccines could be widely available to even younger children by early 2022.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll from April 12-16 found that 55% of U.S. parents said they were interested in getting their kids vaccinated.

Children under 12 have so far been at relatively low risk from the coronavirus. Still, some 284 children have died from COVID-19 since last May,

about 0.06% of all COVID-19 deaths, according to American Academy of Pediatrics data from about 43 states. There were 14,500 hospitalizations among children in 24 states during that time, about 2% of the total.

Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatrics professor at the University of Colorado, said vaccination will help children avoid hospitalizations, a rare inflammatory reaction or lasting symptoms known as long COVID.

“It is certainly not correct to say it’s benign in children. Anyone that’s worked in a children’s hospital can tell you how many sick kids we’ve taken care of,” he said.

Children already receive vaccines for illnesses that have similar or lower levels of related mortality in kids, like hepatitis A, varicella, rubella and rotavirus.

Health officials warn that if left unvaccinated, children could be a reservoir for infection, allowing virus variants that may evade vaccines to circulate and grow. That these vaccines will have been widely used in adults before being made available for children should reassure parents, said Emmanuel Walter, head of Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine trial at Duke University.

Some other vaccines have been developed for and only given to children, such as the chicken pox shot. More than 63 million Americans have received the Pfizer vaccine and about 55 million the Moderna shot.

The trials for young children are more involved than for adolescents because they begin by testing very small doses and gradually increase the dosage while monitoring for side effects.

“What we’re trying to find is that Goldilocks moment when we have just enough vaccine to generate a really good immune response, but we don’t have so much that we’re causing a lot of fever and arm pain and distress in the baby or in the younger child,” said Buddy Creech, a Vanderbilt University professor working on Moderna’s pediatric trial.

Some scientists said waiting for standard approval instead of seeking an EUA would add months to the timetable but allow for gathering more safety data that could help boost public confidence.

The FDA declined to comment.

Dr. Cody Meissner, head of pediatric infectious disease at Tufts University’s medical school, said it comes down to one question: “Does the low burden of disease in children justify a more protracted evaluation of safety?”

Chile: China’s Sinovac is also effective – can that be a game-changer?

covid-vaccine-vaccination-needle

China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine was 67% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, data from a huge real-world study in Chile has shown, a potential boost for the jab which has come under scrutiny over its level of protection against the virus.

The CoronaVac vaccine was 85% effective in preventing hospitalizations and 80% effective in preventing deaths, the Chilean government said in a report, adding that the data should prove a “game changer” from the vaccine more widely. Rodrigo Yanez, Chile’s vice trade minister who forged a deal with Sinovac to host the drug’s clinical trial and buy 60 million doses of the drug over three years, said the results showed

Chile had made “the right bet”.

“It’s a game changer for that vaccine and I think it ratifies quite graphically the discussion over its efficacy,” he told Reuters, adding it should help it with approvals with the World Health Organization as the first real-world study.

Chile’s stock of CoronaVac is running low,

with the supply of an agreed total of 14.2 million to be fully delivered by late May. Yanez said he was negotiating an additional 4 million doses of the vaccine and for now, the country will switch to using more of the Pfizer-BioNTech doses it is due.

The release of the CoronaVac data makes Chile one of a handful of countries, including Britain and Israel,

that have used their rapid inoculation campaigns to gather insights into how effective vaccines are outside controlled clinical trials and when faced with unpredictable variables in societies.

Israel’s real-world study of the effectiveness of Pfizer’s vaccine looked at the results among 1.2 million people, a mix of those who received the shot and those who did not.

Chile’s study examined CoronaVac’s effectiveness among 10.5 million people,

again looking both at people who had been vaccinated and those who had not. Vaccines were administered approximately 28 days apart.

The CoronaVac data published by Chile compares favorably with previous data released on its efficacy in clinical trials. Brazilian trials have indicated general efficacy of the drug at preventing symptomatic infection at just above 50%, though shower far higher efficacy at preventing hospitalization and against moderate and severe cases.

Indonesia gave the vaccine emergency-use approval based on interim data showing it was 65% effective, while in a Turkish trial it had an efficacy in preventing symptomatic infection of 83.5% and 100% in preventing severe illness and hospitalization. The Chilean study looked at the impact of the vaccine among people in the public health system between Feb. 2-April 1, adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, income and nationality.

Its authors stressed that its results, for example a lower protection against death than in clinical trials, should be considered against the backdrop of a fierce second wave of the pandemic.

It compared people who were not inoculated, individuals 14 days or more after receiving one dose and more than 14 days after receiving a second dose. Protection against the virus was far higher after the second shot.

Rafael Araos, the Chilean public health official who presented the study, said the report did not specifically look at how the vaccine stood up to coronavirus variants, including the P1 mutant first identified in Brazil.

“The study was done during a period of high circulation of the virus, including of the variants – so

these results are positive if we don’t have variants and also if we do,”

he said.

Featured image: illustration

Third wave has peaked in Hungary but nr of new infections are still high

Hungary Vaccination Coronavirus Oltás Vakcina

Fully 217 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 4,604 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday.

So far 3,213,837 people have received a first jab, while 1,371,702 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 271,032, while hospitals are caring for 8,947 Covid patients, 1,093 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 50,446 people in official quarantine, while 5,065,759 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 746,802 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 24,979. Fully 450,791 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 coronavirus map
https://koronavirus.gov.hu/terkepek/fertozottek

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 on Facebook on Wednesday.

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 and newer decisions are expected on April 19th.

The reproduction rate of the virus is below one in Hungary!

new section of metro line 3
The reproduction rate of the coronavirus has fallen below one in Hungary, which means that on average an infected person communicates the virus to not more than another person, the chief medical officer said on Friday.
 
Speaking at an online press conference by the central coronavirus board, Cecília Müller  said that the indicators of the pandemic showed a slight decrease. She noted that 5,216 new cases were reported on Thursday and said that the number of new infections could stay “at the same level” next week. Müller said that 90 percent of Hungarians in the 65+ age group registered for vaccination had now been inoculated and half of those aged between 18-59.

Answering a question, Müller said that since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Hungary “we have not had enough time” to establish if a third dose of any vaccine was needed.
All vaccines applied in Hungary ensure protection against serious complications of the coronavirus,
she said. She added that “future vaccination protocols will depend on mutations of the virus and further tests by the vaccine producers”.
 

‘You can’t clone us’: Polish doctors cry for help as COVID deaths spike

poland virus

When the pandemic began last year, Kinga Szlachcic-Wyroba, an anaesthesiologist in the Stefan Zeromski Specialist Hospital in Krakow, Poland, had to manage one COVID-19 patient and 10 others in intensive care with three other doctors.

Now the third wave has hit Poland and the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care stands at 17, with just four non-COVID sufferers. Around 80% of the COVID patients are expected to die.

Szlachcic-Wyroba, however, is still working with only three other doctors.

“We are physically doing our best but we are frequently unable to secure the care that we would like to provide,” she said in the ward’s break room for staff, lined with couches and a stray sleeping bag, adding that when on shift they often can’t even take a break to sit down.

As COVID-related deaths in Poland surpass 800 a day and the country hits a European record for excess deaths, epidemiologists have pointed to a major medical personnel shortage as one of the culprits.

Szlachcic-Wyroba is exhausted from 24-hour shifts and comforting patients’ families, adding that the flood of critically ill patients in recent weeks surpassed “even my worst dreams”.

Across Poland, doctors have complained about long lines of ambulances at hospitals or rescheduled non-COVID surgeries for life-threatening illnesses.

“The country was unprepared for this scale of an epidemic… There are no beds, no personnel, simply no reserves,” said professor Krzysztof Simon, a regional epidemiology consultant from Lower Silesia.

According to Eurostat, Poland had only 2.4 doctors and 5.1 nurses per 1,000 citizens in 2017, among the lowest in the EU, even before the pandemic.

Many doctors have gone abroad in search of better pay, with health spending not enough to attract or retain staff.

“The healthcare system is now at its limit but it has been at this limit basically for as long as I can remember. The epidemic has just multiplied all of its shortcomings,” said Piotr Meryk, head doctor at the Zeromski hospital’s COVID ward.

That means deaths have spiked this year, doctors say, as COVID patients are reluctant to go to hospital, fearing poor conditions and patients suffering from other serious illnesses are neglected by specialists relocated to COVID wards.

After Brazil, Poland had the second highest cumulative number of confirmed deaths in the world the week of April 13, according to Our World in Data.

SOLUTIONS?

The government has promised to address the issue, but staff are hard to find despite efforts to recruit medical students and Ukrainian doctors.

“You can buy equipment, build temporary hospitals, produce more beds, but personnel is the element that is creating a bottleneck,” Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said in February.

In a statement to Reuters, the ministry said it had taken legislative steps in recent years to recruit more nurses and doctors.

But as patients flood wards, Meryk said these steps were not enough, and he urged the government to prepare for future pandemics.

“You can’t just make these doctors appear or clone them.”

poland virus
Read also‘You can’t clone us’: Polish doctors cry for help as COVID deaths spike

Number of infections slowly declining while deaths are stagnant

coronavirus hungary hospital

Fully 241 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 5,216 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday.

So far 3,145,592 people have received a first jab, while 1,349,314 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 271,516, while hospitals are caring for 9,459 Covid patients, 1,117 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 50,446 people in official quarantine, while 5,065,759 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 742,198 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 24,762. Fully 445,920 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 Hajdű-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 on Facebook on Wednesday.

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 and newer decisions are expected on April 19th.

viktor orbán radio
Read alsoSurvey: Majority of Hungarians satisfied with government crisis management

The epidemic is easing in Hungary, but there are still many victims

semmelweis hospital

Fully 256 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 5,307 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.

So far 3,090,994 people have received a first jab, while 1,325,587 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 271,963, while hospitals are caring for 9,848 Covid patients, 1,156 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 47,671 people in official quarantine, while 5,033,736 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 736,982 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 24,521. Fully 440,498 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.

covid map
Photo: www.facebook.com/Koronavírus tájékoztató oldal

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 on Facebook on Wednesday.

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 and newer decisions are expected on April 19th.

orbán
Read alsoPM Orbán: outdoor catering to restart when 3.5 m vaccinated

People under 40 in greater danger from COVID than those above?

coronavirus-hungary

The surging COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil is increasingly affecting younger people, with hospital data showing that last month the majority of those in intensive care were aged 40 or younger, according to a new report.

The report, released by the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine over the weekend, is based on data from over a third of all the country’s intensive care wards. It found a significant increase in younger people being admitted to beds in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

For the first time since the outbreak reached Brazil last year,

52% of ICU beds were filled by patients aged 40 or younger.

That is a jump of 16.5% compared to the occupancy of that age group between December and February.

It is not clear why more young people are falling seriously ill during the current wave of the virus in Brazil, but some scientists think the new P1 variant that originated in the Amazon city of Manaus could be at least partly to blame. Other factors, such as

the vaccination of the elderly and the behavior of younger people

who might feel less concerned about going out and socializing, could also be influencing the data.

In a separate report, public health institute Fiocruz said the trend was putting additional pressure on Brazil’s health system because younger patients tend to spend longer in intensive care. Brazil is currently the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with daily deaths last week surpassing 4,000.

The outbreak is pushing hospitals to breaking point with many patients dying before an ICU bed becomes available.

More than 350,000 people have been killed by the coronavirus in Brazil,

the world’s second highest death toll behind only the United States.

Featured image: illustration

Mental health centre for post-Covid patients opens in Hungary

man mental illness

Even after a successful recovery from the coronavirus, various physical and mental symptoms tend to linger on over time. Such issues are grouped under the umbrella term “post-Covid syndrome”. The Nyírő Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addictions is the first to open a department specifically for outpatients suffering from mental health problems.

Rehabilitation from the coronavirus does not end with the successful defeat of the virus by the immune system. Many are unable to fully regain their health and have complaints that are of both physical and mental nature. Concerning physical symptoms, shortness of breath, loss of smell and taste, and palpitations were the most commonly diagnosed, while mental symptoms may include depression, anxiety, and mood disorders. Hungarians are found to be particularly prone to mental illness and the critical situation takes its toll on everyone, regardless of the level of emotional stability.

Needless to say, it is essential to take mental issues just as seriously as somatic ones. The Nyírő Gyula Institute established a department to offer medical assistance for post-Covid patients who experience long-term psychiatric disorders subsequent to the infection. Appointments can be made from the 2 April by contacting Szabolcs Kéri, the general-director, whom Index interviewed about further details. Kéri said that nearly 30% of those who had contracted the coronavirus developed some sort of mental condition.

Depression, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia are among the most frequent manifestations of post-Covid.

Coping with the loss of a close relative or a job because of the pandemic can also cause acute emotional stress. Although the clinic of the Nyírő Gyula Institute is the first of its kind in the country, Kéri believes that similar centres will be opened with time by Semmelweis University and other universities in the countryside. The clinic is quite busy, and more professionals may be needed to take care of all the registered patients. The method of treatment is traditional psychotherapy, with 1-2-hour-long sessions face-to-face or online. Since no secondary literature is available on the treatment of post-Covid, therapists are required to formulate their own frameworks based on the results they achieve and by consulting the most recent psychological and psychotherapeutic research publications. The treatment usually involves cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, and relaxation techniques. There are currently 103 Covid patients in the hospital, and this number decreases day by day; it is safe to say that the hospital is through the worst.