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U.S. Secretary of State Blinken slams China for not being transparent enough on how COVID-19 started

anthony blinken united states politician

China’s failure to provide access to global health experts made the COVID-19 pandemic worse than it had to be, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday, and it was important to “get to the bottom” of the origin of the novel coronavirus.

The top U.S. diplomat’s sharp words underscored criticism from other members of the Biden administration over Beijing’s lack of transparency in the crucial early days of the pandemic.

China did not give access to international experts or share information in real time to provide true transparency, Blinken said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

As a result, the virus “got out of hand faster and with, I think, much more egregious results than it might otherwise,” Blinken said.

The World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on March 30 that data was withheld from WHO investigators who traveled to China to research the origins of the pandemic.

A WHO report, written jointly with Chinese scientists, released at the time said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” as a cause.

Tedros said the issue required further investigation.

The events highlight why there needs to be a stronger global health security system to ensure this doesn’t happen again, Blinken said. Reforms must include a commitment to transparency, information sharing and access for experts “and China has to play a part in that,” he said.

Blinken said it was important to reach a more conclusive accounting of how the pandemic began.

“We need to do that precisely so we fully understand what happened, in order to have the best shot possible preventing it from happening again,” he said. “That’s why we need to get to the bottom of this.” 

When the WHO report was issued in March, the United States, the European Union and other Western countries called for China to give “full access” to independent experts to all data about the original outbreak in late 2019.

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Read alsoDoctor who performed George Floyd autopsy stands by homicide conclusion

What is the reason for Hungary’s early opening and is democracy dead in Hungary? – VIDEO

Aljazeera Interview Hungarian Minister

“Has Viktor Orbán killed democracy in Hungary?” these were the line the programme UpFront of Al-Jazeera started on April 9th with. Within the framework of the programme, Marc Lamont Hill interviewed Hungary’s Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations Zoltán Kovács about several issues at hand.

In the first point, Hill asked what was the reason behind Hungary’s decision to start easing restrictions and going against the opinion of many doctors, even though the death rate of the pandemic in Hungary is among the highest. In his answer Zoltán Kovács talked about the different nature of the third wave and that Hungary is applying a different tactic. Hill cited the Vice President of the Hungarian Labour Unit of Doctors:

“Doctors find it incomprehensible how there can be a communication about a reopening so soon just when we should be talking about tightening how to improve existing curbs”

Hill suggests that the Hungarian government does not follow the opinion of healthcare workers. Zoltán Kovács emphasized in his answer that in their response, the government does not only take into account the healthcare sector but other sectors as well. Hungary needs to “reignite” the economy to help those who lost their jobs or about to and also to improve the mental health of people who have not been able to conduct their life normally; cannot go to work or school for any reasons.

The interviewer steers the questions in the direction of free media in Hungary, highlighting that the Hungarian government does not let non-state media outlets into hospitals to report about the handling of the pandemic.

Zoltán Kovács defends their position by pointing out that they inform the public in outlets that have been used since the pandemic, such as the public service radio and television giving reports on a daily basis. Marc Lamont Hill challenges the Hungarian secretary by asking why Hungary has been accused of controlling almost its entire domestic media. Zoltán denies the accusations and explains that it is part of a political game from the Hungarian domestic opposition and that there are no real lawful grounds for the accusations.

Hill asks another pressing matter about the compromise of human rights as he reads out that Hungary has used its emergency powers to pass a law criminalising criticism of the government’s response to the pandemic, put a total ban on protests, it ended the legal recognition for trans people and had banned same-sex couples from adopting children.

Zoltán Kovács answered with parallels to Western and other global countries having similar measures to stop the spreading of fake news and the help of handling of the pandemic situation.

The interview goes through with the question of whether Hungary abides by one of the European Union’s core values, the Rule of Law. Zoltán Kovács highlights that no accusations towards Hungary have been proven and argues that the freedom of Hungarians has not been corrupted.

The interview goes on into other issues for the remainder of the programme. If you would like to watch it yourself, you can do so here:

Read alsoWhat is expected to change in Hungarian COVID measures?

Featured image: Still from YouTube video

Weekend brings slight decrease in COVID infections and fatalities in Hungary

semmelweis hospital

Fully 206 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 6,296 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Sunday.

So far 2,835,894 people have received a first jab, while 1,197,685 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections has risen to 270,353, while hospitals are caring for 10,484 COVID-19 patients, 1,290 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 44,370 people in official quarantine, while nearly 5 million tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 720,164 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 23,417. Fully 426,394 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Hajdú-Bihar. On the other end of the list there is Zala county with the least, 15,810 infections.

koronavírus hungary map covid coronavirus
Source: koronavirus.gov.hu

Hungarian government partially lifted restrictions and will soon decide on further relaxing

Since April 7, Hungary’s government has relaxed some of the measures placed into existance before March 8th, and also included some new ones:

  • 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.

Lieutenant Colonel Róbert Kiss told an online press briefing that the current rules applying to mask-wearing, gatherings, the hospitality sector, recreation centres, schools and the Schengen borders will remain in effect for the next week and a half and newer decisions are expected on April 19th.

Police have taken action in 50,429 cases due to people neglecting to wear masks or wearing them incorrectly since the government decree on stricter coronavirus-related defence measures entered into force on Sept. 21.

Read more:

Hungary to reopen fully in June?

chain bridge budapest hungary buildings panorama
If vaccinations against Covid-19 continue at the rate that is required in Hungary and if enough people register for the jab, the country could achieve herd immunity by the summer, János Szlávik, a senior infectologist of the South-Pest Central Hospital, told public media on Saturday.
 
This, Szlávik said, would require 60-80 percent of the population to be vaccinated.

Having more than 2.5 million people who have received their first shot “already has an impact on the epidemic”, he said. But he added that this did not mean that there would be a significant decline in daily case numbers, though they would likely go down somewhat.

Hungary, he said, should strive
 
to vaccinate as many people as possible
 
so that the public could see that vaccines are effective. Until a majority of the population is vaccinated, Covid-19 guidelines will have to be followed and “people cannot feel that they are free”, Szlávik said.
 

He said Hungary will next week receive its first shipment of Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose Janssen jab, making it the sixth vaccine that will be in use in the country.

 Concerning AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Szlávik said he still recommended the jab to anyone, arguing that its benefits greatly outweighed the risks that have been reported about it.

Serbia considers mandatory vaccination of health workers

semmelweis hospital

Serbia could introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said on Friday.

“We cannot be in a situation where we have a healthcare worker infected and then ask if he or she had been vaccinated,” Loncar told Reuters, adding that the government could discuss the proposal within a few days. Italy was the first country in Europe to introduce mandatory vaccination for health workers earlier this week.

Around 2.7 million of Serbia’s 7 million population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the eighth highest proportion globally.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said the Balkan country expects to have 40 percent of those aged over 18 vaccinated by the end of April.

Despite the relatively high vaccination rate, Serbia reported 3,625 new infections on Thursday and 41 deaths, and said hospitals are running near full capacity. When the first vaccines arrived in December and January, people were lining up to get a jab, but interest, especially among students, has dropped.

To boost the inoculation programme, authorities have

launched a campaign showing prominent figures including a priest talking about benefits of the vaccination,

and President Aleksandar Vucic received a jab in the remote village of Rudna Glava.

“I am not against vaccines. But I am against the unresearched vaccines,” Dusan Ostojic, a dentist in Belgrade told Reuters. ” I’m not sure they’re sufficiently researched so that I can, as a medical doctor, maybe recommend them to someone.”

Featured image: illustration

Is the end of COVID far yet? The third wave reached India

India coronavirus record

India reported a record 145,384 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and the highest number of deaths in more than five months, as it grapples with an overwhelming second-wave of infections that has forced the state of Maharashtra to impose a weekend lockdown.

Deaths rose by 794 to a total of 168,436, health ministry data showed. India’s overall case load has swelled to 13.21 million, the third-highest globally, behind the United States and Brazil. India has reported the most number of cases in the world in the past week, breaching the 100,000 mark for the first time on Monday and four times after that.

The government blames the resurgence mainly on crowding and a reluctance to wear masks as businesses have nearly fully reopened since February, only to be partially shut again to control the current surge.

Maharashtra, the Indian state with the most cases, has already shut down restaurants, malls and places of worship and barred the movement of most people

to control the outbreak that has threatened to overrun medical facilities and created vaccine shortages, officials said. Its weekend lockdown will end on early Monday.

In India’s financial capital Mumbai, hundreds of poor migrant workers crammed onto trains this week to flee the city, potentially risking a wider outbreak in smaller towns and villages. The railways department denied people were fleeing cities because of the surge, calling it a usual rush this time of year because of holidays and as workers move to harvest crops.

Many states, meanwhile, have complained of a shortage of vaccines.

Hungary partly reopened but the spread of the virus does not seem to stop

semmelweis hospital

Fully 245 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 8,053 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Saturday.

So far 2,760,938 people have received a first jab, while 1,171,475 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections has risen to 267,291, while hospitals are caring for 10,921 Covid patients, 1,344 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are almost 50 thousand people in official quarantine, while almost 5 million tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 713,868 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 23,211. Fully 423,366 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Hajdú-Bihar. On the other end of the list there is Zala county with 15,580 infections.

Coronavirus Hungary map
https://koronavirus.gov.hu/terkepek/fertozottek

Government extends restrictions until April 19

Hungary’s government has extended coronavirus-related restrictions until April 19, a deputy leader of the operative board responsible for handling the pandemic said on Thursday.

Lieutenant Colonel Róbert Kiss told an online press briefing that the current rules applying to mask-wearing, gatherings, the hospitality sector, recreation centres, schools and the Schengen borders will remain in effect for the next week and a half.

On Wednesday, the authorities took action against 466 people for violating mask-wearing rules, Kiss said.

Police have taken action in 48,218 cases due to people neglecting to wear masks or wearing them incorrectly since the government decree on stricter coronavirus-related defence measures entered into force on Sept. 21, he added.

Read more:

‘This is war’: Polish medics just taking naps between exhausting shifts

semmelweis hospital

Some Polish doctors and nurses are just taking naps between shifts as they fight a third wave of the coronavirus, the health minister said on Friday, amid reports of medical staff using oxygen and intravenous drips to boost their energy.

The country of 38 million, the largest in the European Union’s eastern wing, reported 768 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, after the number of deaths hit a new record of 954 on Thursday.

“This is indeed a war and the situation requires non-standard behaviours,” he told private radio RMF 24.

“These are the toughest, the most difficult pictures, which reflect the burden of this work,” Niedzielski said when asked to comment on some doctors’ using drips and oxygen to regain strength to work.

“When I visited a temporary hospital in Katowice I saw doctors and nurses sleeping to rest in between their shifts. The intensity of work is significant, which results from the deficit of personnel,” Niedzielski said.

Poland reported record high numbers of new cases last week at around 35,000 a day and on Wednesday the government extended restrictions until April 18, keeping kindergartens, schools, shopping centres, hotels, cinemas and theatres closed.

The previous 24-hour death record was 674, reported in November. On Friday Poland reported 28,487 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total to more than 2.5 million.

“If we look at the course of the number of new infections, it seems that the apogee of infections is behind us,” Niedzielski told a press conference, warning against complacency.

“The pandemic is still a real threat and the fact that we see some slight falls is absolutely not a signal which would allow us to think that we have the worst behind… Now we will have to do with an apogee, so to say, in hospitals,” he said.

Number of infections exceeds 700,000, recoveries stand at 420,000

coronavirus hungary hospital

Fully 285 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 7,325 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday.

So far 2,689,102 people have received a first jab, while 1,126,139 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections has risen to 262,574, while hospitals are caring for 11,363 Covid patients, 1,364 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 46,775 people in official quarantine, while 4,861,310 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 705,815 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 22 966. Fully 420,275 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Hajdú-Bihar.

Government extends restrictions until April 19

Hungary’s government has extended coronavirus-related restrictions until April 19, a deputy leader of the operative board responsible for handling the pandemic said on Thursday.

Lieutenant Colonel Róbert Kiss told an online press briefing that the current rules applying to mask-wearing, gatherings, the hospitality sector, recreation centres, schools and the Schengen borders will remain in effect for the next week and a half.

On Wednesday, the authorities took action against 466 people for violating mask-wearing rules, Kiss said.

Police have taken action in 48,218 cases due to people neglecting to wear masks or wearing them incorrectly since the government decree on stricter coronavirus-related defence measures entered into force on Sept. 21, he added.

Read more:

UK: do not give AstraZeneca vaccine to under-30s / Hungary waits for EMA advice

vaccine

Britain should not give Oxford/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to under 30s where possible, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said on Wednesday, due to a very rare side effect of blood clots in the brain.

Wei Shen Lim, COVID-19 Chair for JCVI, said that based on the available data and evidence, the committee has advised that it is preferable for adults aged under 30 with no underlying conditions to be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine where available.

He said that

for younger people, where the risks of hospitalisation were much lower, the risk/benefit calculation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot meant others vaccines were preferable.

“We are not advising a stop to any vaccination for any individual in any age group. We are advising a preference for one vaccine over another vaccine for a particular age group, really out of the utmost caution, rather than because we have any serious safety concerns,” Lim said at a briefing.

He said people should continue to have a second dose of the AstraZeneca shot if they had received a first dose. It came after Britain’s MHRA medicine regulator identified a possible side-effect from the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca involving rare brain blood clotting.

Chief executive June Raine said that

the benefits of the shot outweighed the risks for the vast majority,

echoing an update from Europe’s medicine regulator also made on Wednesday.

Europe’s and Britain’s medicine regulators have both previously said that there is no increased risk of blood clots in general from the shot developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca. However, both have been investigating small numbers of reports of a brain blood clots,

known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST),

that have occurred in combination with unusually low blood platelet levels after people have been given the shot.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said the move would have only a negligible impact on the pace of Britain’s vaccine rollout. The rollout of Moderna’s shot began on Wednesday, while Britain is also deploying Pfizer’s vaccine.

Hungary will wait for the European drug regulator to issue an official opinion on AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 jab

before deciding on how to proceed with the use of the vaccine, the chief medical officer told an online briefing on Wednesday. Cecília Müller noted that several countries have either suspended the use of the British-Swedish drugmaker’s vaccine or are limiting its use to certain age groups after reports of some of its recipients experiencing rare blood clots. She also noted that on Tuesday a senior official for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said there was a clear link between the vaccine and rare blood clots in the brain, although its causes were unknown.

“The EMA, however, has not issued an official opinion on the matter,” Müller said.

“If one is issued today or tomorrow, the Hungarian authorities will take it into consideration and use it as a guideline when deciding how to proceed with the AstraZeneca jab.”

The chief medical officer also thanked Hungary’s health-care professionals for their service on the occasion of World Health Day.

Hungary reopens while Poland extends curbs amid fears of Easter bounce

Poland coronavirus reopen

Poland will extend COVID-19 restrictions until April 18, its health minister said on Wednesday, as the country struggles to cope with a third wave of infections that authorities fear could be aggravated by people mixing at Easter.

Like its central European neighbours, Poland has seen its health service pushed to the brink by spiralling COVID-19 case numbers. Some regions have come close to running out of ventilators and the government has imposed tougher restrictions on daily activity nationwide to try and contain the contagion.

“We have a difficult situation in hospitals

– yesterday over 34,500 beds were occupied and over 3,300 ventilators were in use. These levels, which are close to 80%, are dangerous levels,” Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told a news conference.

“…We have decided that the restrictions in place will be extended by a period of over a week…The extended safety regulations will be in place until April 18.”

Niedzielski said that the consequences of increased mobility during the Easter weekend would be evident in next week’s statistics, and that an increase in case numbers was possible.

Kindergartens, shopping centres, hotels, cinemas and theatres will remain closed under the restrictions.

Poland’s nationalist government drew praise for its swift action during the first wave of infections in 2020, but has come in for mounting criticism over its handling of the later stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week a surprise overnight decision to widen eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines triggered the crash of an online registration system, just as new infections soared to a new daily high.

In Poland, 12.1% of the population have so far received at least one dose of vaccine,

according to the Reuters COVID-19 Vaccination tracker.

Surgeon general says number of COVID-19 infections stagnating

coronavirus hungary hospital

The number of new coronavirus infections in Hungary is stagnating but the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals is still “very high”, the surgeon general said, as the country began to gradually reopen its economy on Wednesday.

Surgeon General Cecília Müller also told a briefing that Hungarian authorities would follow guidance from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) regarding AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, but there has not been an official statement yet.

EMA is currently investigating whether there is any

link between AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine and rare blood clots,

and it plans to make an announcement at 1400 GMT.

Meanwihle, István Újhelyi, an opposition Socialist MEP, on Wednesday slammed the government for not planning to cooperate in shaping the common European Union health-care policy, and accused the government of “turning quality of health care into a sovereignty issue”.

Újhelyi, who sits on the European Parliament’s public health committee, told a press conference on Wednesday, marking World Health Day, that he had written a letter to Ildikó Horváth, the state secretary for health care,

asking how the government planned to join the EU’s European health-care union.

He was “stunned to learn”, he added, that the government had not wanted an input into health-care competencies laid down in the EU’s founding document or to participate in programmes shaping common health-care policy. Újhelyi said the government was “yet again” framing living up to higher, European standards as a sovereignty issue.

“The government doesn’t want the weaknesses of Hungarian health care to show in European comparison

on indicators such as nosocomial infections,” he said.

It is in the interest of Hungarian citizens and health-care employees that Hungary participates in the programme of the European health-care union, Újhelyi said.

Number of deaths still brutal high, but Hungary reopens today

coronavirus hungary hospital ventilator
Fully 311 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,933 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday. So far 2,536,751 people have received a first jab, while 1,005,936 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections has risen to 252,115, while hospitals are caring for 12,202 Covid patients, 1,407 of whom need respiratory assistance. There are 47,578 people in official quarantine, while 4,795,584 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak,
 
693,676 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 22,409.
 
Fully 419,152 people have made a recovery. So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Hajdú-Bihar.
 
Coronavirus map Hungary
https://koronavirus.gov.hu/terkepek/fertozottek

Hungary starts to reopen today

 
As Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said, restrictions can only slow down the British variant of the virus, but they cannot eradicate it.

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. 

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.

Fire extinguished in E Hungary Covid ward

fire

A fire broke out in a Covid ward of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Hatvan, eastern Hungary, early on Sunday, but caused no injuries, the hospital’s communications director told MTI.

Krisztina Zelnik said a 28-bed, non-intensive care unit ward was evacuated. The building is being aired out and damages repaired, she said, adding that the fire would not cause any protracted disruption of patient care or the operation of the hospital.

Disaster management officials earlier said

the fire broke out in a ward on the first storey of one of the hospital wings, and staff evacuated three wards.

A county disaster management official said seven firetrucks with 22 firefighters from Hatvan and nearby cities had arrived at the scene, extinguishing the flames in a short time. The cause of the fire is being investigated, Csaba Nagy said.

russian hospital burning
Read alsoRussian doctors complete open-heart surgery as tsarist-era hospital burns – Video

Orbán visited Hungaropharma to see how the vaccines are transported within Hungary

orbán speech

The number of Hungarians vaccinated against the coronavirus will reach 2.5 million “1-2 days after Easter”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a video message posted on his social media page on Sunday.

The prime minister paid a visit to pharmaceutical company Hungaropharma’s base in Budapest early on Easter Sunday, the PM’s press chief told MTI. Covid vaccines are shipped from the base to inoculation points early every morning, Bertalan Havasi said.

https://www.facebook.com/orbanviktor/posts/10159147538951093

In his video message, Orbán acknowledged the contributions of warehouse workers, pilots and drivers to the vaccination rollout, as well as that of doctors and nurses.

“They do this work every morning. It’s the same today, and we have good chance, if things go as planned tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, to reach the 2.5 million inoculated mark 1-2 days after Easter,” he said.

Hungary’s government will start easing pandemic restrictions gradually after 2.5 million Hungarians have received at least their first jab of Covid vaccine.

The last two Easters were not usual to be sure and this one almost ended up with a catastrophe. Fortunately, no one got injured and thanks to the rapid response of firemen, the fire that broke out in a hospital on the 4th of April was quickly extinguished.

A fire broke out in a Covid ward of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Hatvan, eastern Hungary, early on Sunday, but caused no injuries, the hospital’s communications director told MTI.

Krisztina Zelnik said a 28-bed, non-intensive care unit ward was evacuated. The building is being aired out and damages repaired, she said, adding that the fire would not cause any protracted disruption of patient care or the operation of the hospital.

Disaster management officials earlier said the fire broke out in a ward on the first storey of one of the hospital wings, and staff evacuated three wards.

A county disaster management official said seven firetrucks with 22 firefighters from Hatvan and nearby cities had arrived at the scene, extinguishing the flames in a short time. The cause of the fire is being investigated, Csaba Nagy said.

Read alsoOpening the schools will start a fourth wave in Hungary?

Good news! Number of new infections dropped by 24% – latest Hungarian COVID-data

Hungary Vaccination Coronavirus Oltás Vakcina

Fully 211 patien,ts, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 6,566 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Sunday.

So far 2,312,501 people have received a first jab, while 905,117 have been fully vaccinated. 22.9% of the Hungarian population have been vaccinated and 83% of people aged 65 have received the jab.

The number of active infections has risen to 247,292, while hospitals are caring for 11,571 Covid patients, 1,440 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 52,528 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests officially carried out is more than 4.7 million.

Since the first outbreak, 685,979 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 21,715. Fully 416,972 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest (127,894) and Pest County (96,171), followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron (38,843), Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (38,117) and Hajdú-Bihar (36,381). The county having the lowest number of infected people is currently Zala (15,017).

Coronavirus Hungary map
Source: koronavirus.gov.hu

Coronavirus-related restrictions remain in effect until April 8

Hungary has no room to loosen lockdown measures yet due to a rise in coronavirus infections.

Shops, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, petrol stations, drugstores, tobacco shops, shops selling tools for “spring gardening”, pet food and fodder shops, and markets, will have to be closed, and services will have to stop, with the exception of private healthcare, social care, financial, postal, and car repair services, suspended between March 8 and Easter.

Kindergartens and primary schools will be closed from March 8 until April 19.

Gyms will continue to be closed for two weeks, but licenced athletes will be allowed to train and compete behind closed doors. Parks will be allowed to stay open and outdoor sports will also be allowed for activities in which people can maintain a safe distance of 1.5 metres. The government asks employers to ensure that their employees can work from home wherever possible, particularly in the case of those with children.

Mask-wearing remains mandatory outdoors. Hungary would impose tighter controls on its borders, adding, however, that freight and transit traffic will not be restricted. Wage subsidies and tax cuts introduced for the hospitality industry will be expanded for the period of the lockdown to all sectors forced to shut down by the new measures. The police is strictly inspecting that everyone abides the above restrictions.

Opening the schools will start a fourth wave in Hungary?

The Teachers Trade Union says that the reopening of schools on April 19 might result in a fourth wave of the coronavirus in Hungary. Until April 11, 162 thousand nursery workers, as well as school and kindergarten teachers will get at least their first jab. However, that means that most of them will not be fully protected against the deadly disease. Furthermore, 213 thousand people are working in this sector, so more than 50 thousand will not receive any vaccine because most of them would not like to be inoculated.

According to Euronews.com, the Teachers Trade Union would like to protect the parents from a fourth wave. Though most of the teachers will get their jab, the majority of the parents will not, so if their children bring the infection home, a fourth wave might start in Hungary.

Tamás Totyik, a vice-chairman of the trade union, highlighted that the government would like to reopen shops after Easter, allowing only one customer per ten square metres. However, an average classroom is 40 square metres. In an ordinary Hungarian elementary school, there are 26 students in a classroom. Meanwhile, in a secondary school, this number is 32. In a secondary grammar school, this number increases to 35.

According to him, keeping the necessary distance in schools is impossible. That will result in a quick spread among students, who will bring the infection home, the trade union said. Furthermore, most of the teachers will get their second jab around the time of graduation, in May, so they will not be fully protected against the infection.

PM Viktor Orbán said before in the state media that the first jab already gives significant protection.

Furthermore, he asked all teachers to take into consideration the interests of the parents. 

He said that he understood that everybody would like to get the vaccines as soon as possible and then wait for a while to become fully protected. However, people have to work, so schools have to open because parents cannot bring their children anywhere, ha added.

The Teachers Trade Union highlighted that the government started to inoculate teachers too late. They said that

the Orbán-administration should have started the process at the beginning of March to make reopening on April 19 safe.

Lálszló Miklósi, the chairman of the Association of Hungarian History Teachers, said that a teacher had three times more tasks in the framework of digital education than under normal circumstances. However, he says that

schools should remain closed,

with which – based on their survey – 2/3rds of history teachers concur.

Still, almost 1,500 people are on a ventilator – the latest COVID-data

coronavirus hungary hospital

Fully 242 patien,ts, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 8,637 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Saturday.

So far 2,235,731 people have received a first jab, while 891,002 have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections has risen to 242,308, while hospitals are caring for 11,383 Covid patients, 1,437 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are almost 60 thousand people in official quarantine, while the number of tests officially carried out is more than 4.6 million.

Since the first outbreak, 679,413 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 21,504. Fully 415,601 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest (126,790) and Pest County (95,323), followed by the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron (38,527), Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (37,707) and Hajdú-Bihar (36,009). The county having the lowest number of infected people is currently Zala (14,796).

Coronavirus Hungary map
koronavirus.gov.hu

Coronavirus-related restrictions remain in effect until April 8

Hungary has no room to loosen lockdown measures yet due to a rise in coronavirus infections.

Shops, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, petrol stations, drugstores, tobacco shops, shops selling tools for “spring gardening”, pet food and fodder shops, and markets, will have to be closed, and services will have to stop, with the exception of private healthcare, social care, financial, postal, and car repair services, suspended between March 8 and Easter.

Kindergartens and primary schools will be closed from March 8 until April 19.

Gyms will continue to be closed for two weeks, but licenced athletes will be allowed to train and compete behind closed doors. Parks will be allowed to stay open and outdoor sports will also be allowed for activities in which people can maintain a safe distance of 1.5 metres. The government asks employers to ensure that their employees can work from home wherever possible, particularly in the case of those with children.

Mask-wearing remains mandatory outdoors. Hungary would impose tighter controls on its borders, adding, however, that freight and transit traffic will not be restricted. Wage subsidies and tax cuts introduced for the hospitality industry will be expanded for the period of the lockdown to all sectors forced to shut down by the new measures.