Omicron variant detected near Hungary + latest COVID data

Coronavirus in Hungary

The omicron variant of the virus was detected in Croatia, the country’s public health institution told yesterday. Based on the HZJZ’s decision, regardless of whether one is vaccinated or not, they have to go to a 14-day-long quarantine provided they got in touch with people having the South-African variant.

According to portfolio.hu, those concerned have to do a PCR test on both the first and last day of their quarantine. The Croatian public health authority announced on Monday the detection of the new variant in two citizens. They took part in an international conference a couple of days before. Later that day, they published a new statement clearing that

they found the third omicron-infected patient.

In Croatia, there are 2,436 patients treated in hospitals, 319 of them receive respiratory assistance.

Reuters reported that “British drugmaker GSK (GSK.L) said on Tuesday its antibody-based COVID-19 therapy with U.S. partner Vir Biotechnology (VIR.O) is effective against all mutations of the new Omicron coronavirus variant.”

New Hungarian coronavirus test detects 99% of the variants in 6-10 minutes

In Hungary, altogether 213 patients died of a Covid-related illness during the past 24 hours, while 6,849 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday. So far 6,166,840 people have received a first jab, while 5,874,429 have been fully vaccinated. Altogether

2,824,464 Hungarians have received a booster jab.

The number of active infections stands at 184,295, while hospitals are treating 7,206 Covid-19 patients, 607 of whom need respiratory assistance. Since the first outbreak, 1,168,728 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 36,048. Fully 948,385 people have made a recovery. There are 47,718 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,701,776.

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Read alsoThese are the positive and negative news about the new Omicron variant

PM Orbán: vaccination day to be held in all localities within 6 weeks

Vaccine-coronavirus
A vaccination day will be held in all Hungarian localities within the next six weeks, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told public radio on Friday.
 
In the interview, Orbán predicted that the number of people opting for a booster jab against Covid-19 would “skyrocket”. Some one million vaccines were administered by Thursday evening in the first two weeks of the campaign, he said. Around 800,000 were booster jabs, and 115,000 went to people who “for whatever reason” had not accepted the vaccine before, he said.
 
Hungarians are much safer thanks to the vaccine,
 
he said. So far, 2.6 million people, or 27 percent of the population, have received a booster jab, compared with a European Union average of 10 percent, he said.
 
Given that the effectiveness of vaccinations declines after six months, the government will contact citizens in person, by email, text message or by post to ask them to get a booster. Orbán
 
praised doctors, nurses, police and soldiers, saying they had withstood the challenges,
 
and Hungary’s health system was still standing despite the strains. Commenting on the omicron variant, the prime minister the scientific community was as yet unclear as to its dangers or speed of transmission, but initial reactions of fear were likely to turn out to be greater than dangers posed by omicron. Still, he urged caution.
 
 
Meanwihle, altogether
 
191 patients died of a Covid-related illness over the past 24 hours,
 
while 10,143 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday. So far 6,145,984 people have received a first jab, while 5,858,119 have been fully vaccinated. Altogether 2,665,330 Hungarians have received a booster jab.
 
The number of active infections stands at 189,002, while hospitals are treating 7,463 Covid-19 patients, 566 of whom need respiratory assistance. Since the first outbreak, 1,143,869 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 35,122. Fully 910,745 people have made a recovery. There are 60,555 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,559,975.
 

Fourth wave peaking in Hungary?

Tram-train-crowd
Altogether 192 patients died of a Covid-related illness over the past 24 hours, while 11,152 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday.
 
So far 6,132,549 people have received a first jab, while 5,847,405 have been fully vaccinated. Altogether 2,559,096 Hungarians have received a booster jab.
 
The number of active infections stands at 187,856, while
 
hospitals are treating 7,546 Covid-19 patients, 562 of whom need respiratory assistance.
 
Since the first outbreak, 1,114,260 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 34,713. Fully 891,691 people have made a recovery.
 
There are 53,551 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,474,664.
 

Portfolio.hu wrote that Hungary might pass the peak of the fourth wave these days. The media outlet said that the daily number of new infections seems to have stabilized at around 10 thousand, which is good news regarding the spread of the virus. Based on wastewater data,

the spread of the coronavirus stabilizes at a high level.

The reproduction rate (R) is around 1 meaning that one infected gives the disease to not more than 1 another.

 However, the rate of positive tests has never been this high. Portfolio.hu says that Hungary reached the limit of its testing capacities. That means the number of hidden new infections is rising.

 

Almost 200 patients died in the last 24h, more soldiers to go to the hospitals

Coronavirus hospital
Altogether 195 patients died of a Covid-related illness over the past 24 hours, while 6,390 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Tuesday. The Hungarian Armed Forces is assigning more soldiers to help out staff at Hungary’s hospitals during the prolonged national vaccination campaign, the defence ministry said on Monday.
 
So far 6,126,420 people have received a first jab, while 5,842,885 have been fully vaccinated. Altogether 2,515,398 Hungarians have received a booster jab. The number of active infections stands at 185,928, while hospitals are treating 7,596 Covid-19 patients, 513 of whom need respiratory assistance.

Since the first outbreak, 1,103,108 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 34,521. Fully 882,659 people have made a recovery. There are 49,607 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,443,744.
 
 
 
More than 60 additional soldiers are being assigned to hospitals and health-care institutions to assist the Covid response efforts
 
and take the burden off health-care staff, the ministry said in a statement. This means there are now some 870 soldiers supporting the health-care system at 95 locations, it said. The soldiers assigned to the hospitals help out with logistical tasks, temperature screenings, directing patients to the right place as well as with administrative and transportation tasks.
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PM Orbán: “we can have a big family Christmas this year”

Viktor-Orban-interview
The government is prolonging the national vaccination campaign by a week, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on public radio on Friday. “We can have a big family Christmas this year” only if the number of those taking booster shots grows significantly, Orbán said.

Most of those being vaccinated are receiving the third jab now, with the number of those still taking the first dose the lowest, he said. Orbán said that while lockdowns only slowed the spread of the disease, booster shots offered a decisive solution. At the same time, people should also comply with the protection measures in place, he said.
 
He asked Hungarians to take the third jab.
 
“We have managed to save the lives of those who did,” he said. On the subject of possible further restrictions, Orbán said the government would not exclude anything. If take-up of booster shots rose and the pace of new infections could be reined in or halted, shutdowns would be unnecessary, he added.
 
Following European approval for a vaccine that can be used to inoculate 5-12 year-olds, Hungary has purchased 2 million doses, he said, adding that the first shipment of 130,000 doses was expected to arrive on Dec. 20. After that, deliveries of the vaccine suitable for children would be continuous.
 
Orbán appealed to parents to vaccinate their children.
 
The prime minister said administration and health-care staff, as well as people helping police officers and soldiers, were a guarantee of Hungary’s health-care system not collapsing. All the necessary equipment, beds, ventilators are available, as well as the designated Covid hospital, which could be operational “in an instant”.
 
 
Calling the work of doctors and nurses “superhuman” and “heroic”, Orban noted the government’s decision to boost wages in the sector. The wage hikes signalled to health-care staff that “the country stands by them”, he added. Meanwhile, Orbán said
 
migration was expected to ramp up significantly at Hungary’s southern border over the next few months.
 
So far this year, more than 100,000 migrants have been stopped at Hungary’s border, three times last year’s figure. At the same time, the Italian-Spanish, Eastern and Balkan routes were all seeing a massive increase in migration, he said, noting that 30,000-35,000 people were leaving Afghanistan each day, most likely in Hungary’s direction, intending to traverse the country.
 
He said the European Union’s rules on migration had been written in peacetime and were now obsolete. “Today there’s no peacetime,” he added. The new Berlin government sees Germany “as an immigrant country”, while Hungary is not in favour of turning into one, he said, adding that the two standpoints were “incompatible”, and neither side would abandon its position.
 
He noted that Hungary deports illegal migrants across the border,
 
and applications for asylum are processed either at the Hungarian embassy of their country of origin or the last country they have passed through. He also noted that the EU rejected this solution and insisted Hungary should “accept these people” and process asylum claims in the country.
 
 
 
Brussels, Orbán added, should cover its share of the costs of defending Europe’s external border rather than punishing countries on the frontline doing so. Instead, the EU funded the “pro-migration organisations” of George Soros, he said.
 
On the topic of the cap on utility bills, Orbán underlined the
 
government’s commitment to “defending its results”.
 
Put to him that the government scheme was anti-market, he said: “I’m not interested in the market; I’m interested in the Hungarian people.”
 
Orbán said the left wing believed in an “oracle” that conjured an image of the market. “We, on the other hand, must base our logic on being free and able to regulate ourselves.” He said the scheme which has run for the past eight years had proven its worth and it must be defended “by attacking the left wing and Brussels”.
 
The prime minister said tax increases would inevitably follow an election win by the left. The Fidesz government, however, pursued tax cuts as a way to create jobs, he added.
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KSH: deaths outstrip births in October

cemetery, all saints' day
The rate of natural decline in the population decreased by 34 percent in October, with the number of births increasing by 3.1 percent and deaths decreasing by 10 percent compared with the previous year, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Thursday.
 
In October, 8,289 children were born, 248 more than in the same month in the previous year, while 11,252 people died, 1,252 fewer than during the same month in 2020.

In the Jan-Oct period, there were 77,687 births, down 21 from the same period a year earlier.
 
The number of deaths was 122,622, up 14 percent from the same period in 2020.
 
The rise in deaths and the drop in the birth rate means that the rate of natural population decline was up by 52 percent compared with the same period last year, KSH said.
 
The number of marriages fell, with 5,293 couples tying the knot, 19 percent less than during the same period in 2020, it said.
Hungary coronavirus
Read also The number of infected reached a new record in Hungary!

Coronavirus raging in Hungary – latest data

Coronavirus in Hungary
Altogether 185 patients died of a Covid-related illness during the past 24 hours, while 12,165 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.
 
So far 6,072,192 people have received a first jab, while 5,816,050 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 2,153,117 Hungarians have received a booster jab.
 
The number of active infections stands at 165,862, while hospitals are treating 6,858 Covid-19 patients,
 
680 of whom need respiratory assistance.
 
Since the first outbreak, 1,057,017 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 33,704. Fully 857,451 people have made a recovery.
 
There are 64,002 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,249,524.
Viktor-Orban
Read alsoBreaking – government to extend the state of emergency in Hungary!

Do Hungarian authorities hide the most crucial COVID data?

Coronavirus

Hungarian biostatistician Tamás Ferenci, a fellow lecturer of the Óbuda University, wrote that treating people as partners, transparency, and honest communication would be fundamental for a successful defence. He published an article yesterday in which he drew attention to the deficiencies and contradictions of COVID data sharing in Hungary.

Hungarian biostatistician tells the solution

According to telex.hu, Ferenci gave a detailed list of what data the government and authorities should publish. He cited foreign examples not only from the West but also from the East supporting the importance of transparency.

The list of the needed data is very long. To sum it up, Ferenci argues that the

authorities should share more details, arranged according to more aspects.

Moreover, he says that Hungary would need more frequent data sharing in the following topics.

– the age, gender, and geographical distribution of the infected, people treated in hospitals, in intensive care units and receiving respiration support

– the number, type, geographical distribution of the tests and the time between the testing and the result

– details about the capacities of the hospitals

National vaccination campaign gets under way

 

– Ferenci says that we should know more about the patients treated in the hospitals. We should know all their diseases, the therapy they receive, their general condition. Moreover, we should know how many recovered, were transferred to other departments, or died

– data about the vaccines administered. For example, we should know the regional distribution of the jabs

– Ferenci argues that Hungarians should know how many inoculated people became infected, were treated in the hospitals, or died. Furthermore, authorities should also share the type of vaccine they received

– Moreover, the authorities never reported the side effects of the COVID vaccines

– authorities do not share the variants of the virus currently present in Hungary. For example, we only know that the delta plus variant arrived from a statement of the chief medical officer

– Meanwhile, Ferenci believes that it is needless to share so many details about the diseased because they make them indentifiable

Hungary has enough vaccine, says minister

It would not require money or plus energy

He added that the list above would not require more money or energy. 60-70 percent of them would only need will and creating a proper data surveillance system. He said that the Hungarian authorities are cynical when they say they cannot share the age distribution of the infected because of data protection reasons. However,

they share so many details about the diseased that they can sometimes be identified.

The Hungarian biostatistician said that the authorities could only win the trust of the people with higher transparency. He says that regular and professional data sharing drives authorities to work better. Without that, there is no outside control, and mistakes remain hidden instead of corrected.

He says that data sharing is better not only in the USA or in the UK but also Romania and North Macedonia. In the USA, the citizens even know which hospital struggles with a labour shortage.

coronavirus vaccine injection
Read alsoThird and fourth jabs to come? – This is what Hungarian virologists think

The number of infected reached a new record in Hungary!

Hungary coronavirus
Altogether 176 patients died of a Covid-related illness during the past 24 hours, while 12,637 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday.
 
So far 6,057,367 people have received a first jab, while 5,808,536 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 2,043,213 Hungarians have received a booster jab.

The number of active infections stands at 155,003, while hospitals are treating 6,840 Covid-19 patients, 664 of whom need respiratory assistance.
 
Since the first outbreak, 1,044,852 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 33,519. Fully 856,330 people have made a recovery.

There are 54,978 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,196,724.
vaccination campaign hungary
Read alsoHungary has enough vaccine, says minister

Cutting-edge super hospital to be built in Budapest – PHOTOS

Superhospital Budapest

Hungary has recently launched a new development program called Egészséges Budapest Program (Healthy Budapest Program) that will change the scene of Hungarian healthcare. The development promises utopistic hospitals where doctors are assisted by robots and patients receive top-notch healing services.

The Healthy Budapest super development program will cost over 700 billion forints (€ 1.945 billion). The program will radically change the future of Hungarian healthcare, including hospitals, by modernising and restructuring the healthcare infrastructure of Hungary’s capital city, Magyarépítők says.

As part of the development plan, several clinics and hospitals will be renewed and expanded as well as four new ultramodern central hospitals will be built. One of these cutting-edge designs is the Dél-budai Centrumkórház, or South Buda Central Hospital (DBC). According to Róbert J. Bedros, senior advisor of the project, this project will be the “development of the century”.

According to Magyarépítők, the South Buda Central Hospital will be built in district XI. of Budapest in the Dobogó area. The fully equipped hospital will provide healthcare services for the over 1.2 million residents of Budapest including people living in the agglomeration and in the neighbouring counties.

If everything goes according to plan, the cornerstone of the building will be placed during spring time in 2022 and the construction work will be completed by 2026.

Róbert J. Bedros, the senior advisor of the project gave an interview to Origo in which he told more details about the construction of the sci-fi like hospital which is currently in its development phase.

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What will it include?

Bedros said that it is going to be one of the most sophisticated buildings in Hungary to date. The hospital will utilise state-of-the-art healthcare technologies,will be built with the latest architectural solutions, and will have the largest floorspace (five football fields) in the country.

He also added that robots will assist the hospital staff in several fields. They will do menial tasks such as carrying the laundry, food, and equipment from one place to another. In addition, robot assistants will also bolster the working staff by monitoring patients, recording data to the electronic medical report, and alerting professionals when needed, Bedros said.

He also talked about robot surgeons which can assist the doctors’ work.

Although they still require a person to guide them, he said, this cutting-edge equipment could eliminate human error as well as enhance the surgeons’ capabilities by performing complicated procedures such as prenatal surgeries. Bedros said that they would like to build a special operating room for intrauterine procedures.

A.I. will help to record patients when they arrive at the hospital and, thanks to these technological devices, medical education can also reach higher levels in the institution. They plan on utilising modern technologies so that students will be able to watch procedures on large screens while asking questions from the operating team.

Superhospital Budapest Blueprint
Design: teampannon.hu/

Bedros also told Origo that they will also bear medical education in mind by reserving some rooms for educational practises.

“Our prospective colleagues will be able to tackle such professional challenges by using our facilities’ top-notch technologies that it will give them a priceless competitive edge for their future career.”

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PM Orbán about fourth wave: “the hard part still to come”

Viktor Orbán
Hungary is deep in the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with “the hard part still to come”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his regular weekly interview on public radio on Friday, adding that “the only thing that ensures protection is the jab”.
 
Those that are not inoculated are in “mortal danger”, Orbán said, but warned that the unvaccinated “pose a danger not only to themselves but to all others”. He warned that restrictive measures could not provide protection against the virus, just slow down its spread among the population.
 
Four to six months after the second shot immunisation will decrease,
 
and it is justified to take a booster, he said. “If everybody were inoculated, there would be no fourth wave or it would be just a small one,” the prime minister said. With everybody inoculated there will be no fifth wave, he said, adding that “we cannot avoid that everybody should be inoculated at the end of the day”.
 
 
Altogether 135 patients died of a Covid-related illness during the past 24 hours, while 11,289 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday. So far 6,017,807 people have received a first jab, while 5,788,775 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 1,765,000 Hungarians have received a booster jab.
 
The number of active infections stands at 128,124, while hospitals are treating 6,122 Covid-19 patients, 613 of whom need respiratory assistance. Since the first outbreak, 998,488 infections have been registered, while
 
the number of fatalities has risen to 32,780.
 
Fully 837,584 people have made a recovery. There are 59,177 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 8,006,581.
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Read alsoFrom Saturday wearing masks in enclosed spaces will be compulsory in Hungary!

Hungary to send doctors to help in Slovenia

Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff confirmed that during yesterday’s government info. Hungary is to send ten doctors to Slovenia to help amid the serious epidemic there – he said.

Regarding the Stop Soros package of laws which the European Court of Justice ruled unlawful, Gulyás said the government was examining the ruling. He added the government considered the European Commission’s “stand in favour of migration taken within a single week of the court’s ruling” to be “a serious mistake”. Gulyás said the EC should follow the instructions of European government leaders and draft a clear set of rules to advance the protection of the EU’s external borders.

Commenting on the situation on the Poland-Belarus border, Gulyás noted that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was handling the diplomacy, and “Hungary knows what its weight is,” though if a request was received, he added, Hungary would not hesitate to step up. Every possible support for protecting the external borders should be provided, he said.

Asked about recent legislation on

changing address rules for voters in the general election,

Gulyás said the new rules did not offer any greater room for manoeuver that those up to now. Neither did they connect with the right to vote, he insisted. The government estimates that 1.5-2 million people live somewhere other than at their declared address, he added.

Fidesz trying to invigorate ‘voter tourism’?

During the five-week parliamentary session, no objections to the amendment were made, he said. A debate emerged only later, when an organisation linked to George Soros complained about the new law, Gulyás added. Responding to a question on the economy, Gulyas said the government considered it important that certain sectors of the economy should be in Hungarian hands to a sufficient degree, and more must be done to achieve this in the food industry and retail.

Regarding the possible redrafting of next year’s budget, he said the government awaited the central bank’s 2022 inflation forecast to be published in December. He said the government concurred with the consensus that inflation would not fall back to around three percent before the second half of next year.

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Read alsoFrom Saturday wearing masks in enclosed spaces will be compulsory in Hungary!

They got fake immunity certificates to travel: father dead, family on ventilator

Coronavirus Hungary

A family of 4 living in Budapest wanted to travel abroad after they acquired fake immunity certificates. However, all of them caught the virus and received respiratory help because they had severe symptoms. The healthcare workers reported the issue to the police after they had examined their immunity certificates and found that something did not add up with them.

Even the small children were put on ventilator

According to blikk.hu, nobody inoculated themselves in the family, but they needed to travel frequently abroad. Therefore, they probably bought immunity certificates, but nobody knew whether they could travel anywhere with them. Soon after they fot the certificates they caught one after the other the coronavirus and were transported to the

intensive care department of a Budapest hospital.

Moreover, they struggled with severe symptoms, so all of them needed respiratory assistance, even the small kids.

The doctors could not save the father’s life, and his elementary school child is still on a ventilator. Based on the information of the Hungarian tabloid, the police now examines the fake immunity certificates they obtained.

Hungary reports 165 deaths over 24 hours – latest COVID numbers

Issuing fake immunity certificates is good business

Recent months show that more and more people refusing to get inoculated would like to get such certificates. Based on Blikk, the police investigate in 17 cases in which doctors, healthcare workers, nurses cooperated in issuing fake immunity certificates. Before, authorities charged three public officials in a similar case.

The biggest public outcry was in Kótaj,

in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county. Officers of the Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK) took away handcuffed dr. A. Akeef, a family doctor, for selling fake certificates for HUF 50,000 (EUR 140) to locals. He said that he was innocent, and authorities finally set him free in September.

He told Blikk that he was happy to work again and to experience the love from his patients. However, the police continue investigating the issue. Dr László Szilágyi, the spokesman of the police headquarters of the country, said that they already have 14 suspects. But he did not share further details due to the interests of the process.

In Ukraine, authorities say that people might hold

more than 800,000 fake immunity certificates.

That number might reach 1 million in months.

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More than 10 thousand new infections in the past 24h!

Coronavirus in Hungary
Altogether 178 patients died of a Covid-related illness during the past 24 hours, while 10,265 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Wednesday.
 
So far 6,008,226 people have received a first jab, while 5,780,925 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 1,668,000 Hungarians have received a booster jab. The
 
number of active infections stands at 115,383,
 
while hospitals are treating 5,852 Covid-19 patients, 565 of whom need respiratory assistance.
 


Since the first outbreak, 976,432 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 32,514. Fully 828,535 people have made a recovery. There are 46,530 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 7,909,782.
 
According to hvg.hu, President János Áder said today in an interview with Népszava that they cannot highlight more how important the vaccine is. “We need more inoculated people because the vaccine is the only effective protection against the virus” – he added. He highlighted that the administration could not run a more intensive campaign for the vaccine. 
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Charges raised against two Iranians for rowdy behaviour in hospital

Street fight public brawl Germany

Charges have been pressed against two male Iranian citizens for shouting and acting violently last March when they were forced to stay in a hospital as a result of suspected Covid infection, the chief public prosecutor’s office said on Friday.

Several Iranian citizens were taken under epidemiological supervision in a Budapest hospital on March 7, 2020, the office said. The two suspects,

aged 24 and 23,

were taken to the hospital for testing in the afternoon. After being told that were not allowed to leave, they shouted and refused to cooperate with hospital staff before climbing out of a window to a terrace and going to other rooms in the hospital, despite being told to stay in their room. When staff refused to open their terrace door, they kicked it repeatedly.

The 9th district prosecutor’s office submitted an indictment to the Pest county district court for rowdy behaviour and initiated a suspended prison sentence.

Prosecution ends against Iranian university students expelled from Hungary

Altogether
 
116 patients died of a Covid-related illness over the past 24 hours,
 
while 8,370 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday. So far 5,992,142 people have received a first jab, while 5,768,941 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 1,527,000 Hungarians have received a booster jab.
 
The number of active infections stands at 89,581, while hospitals are treating 5,147 Covid-19 patients, 509 of whom need respiratory assistance. Since the first outbreak, 939,784 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 31,867. Fully 818,336 people have made a recovery. There are 47,575 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 7,752,519.
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Almost 500 patients need respiratory assistance, hospitals treat nearly 5,000

Coronavirus hospital

Altogether 132 patients died of a Covid-related illness over the past 24 hours, while 8,394 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.

So far 5,986,727 people have received a first jab, while 5,764,573 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 1,475,000 Hungarians have received a booster jab. The number of active infections stands at 83,818, while

hospitals are treating 4,990 Covid-19 patients,

488 of whom need respiratory assistance. Since the first outbreak, 931,414 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 31,751. Fully 815,845 people have made a recovery.

There are 39,655 people in official quarantine, while the number of tests taken stands at 7,715,195.

Meanwhile, Hungary has delivered some
 
200,000 jabs of Covid vaccine to Istanbul to be shipped to African countries
 
as part of a donation by members of the Turkic Council. Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, presented the doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine to Turkic Council Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev at a joint press conference on Thursday.
 


Speaking at the event, Szijjártó said that the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic had hit the world harder than expected. “It has made it even clearer that vaccination is the only way of protection and that those who have not been vaccinated are exposed to a much greater risk this time than in previous waves,” he said.
 
Szijjártó said that Hungary has sufficient vaccine supplies for domestic vaccination and has extra reserves to help other countries that are in a difficult situation. “This is why we immediately said yes to the Turkish initiative in the framework of which Turkey and Hungary are each to donate 200,000 doses of vaccine with Azerbaijan donating an additional 100,000 doses
 
to the most disadvantaged African countries
 
with the coordination of the Turkic Council, to save hundreds of thousands of lives,” he said.

The Turkic Council is an intergovernmental organisation established in 2009 to promote comprehensive cooperation among Turkic speaking states. Its members are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey. Hungary has had observer status in the organisation since 2018.
Read alsoLawmakers are not required to be vaccinated in Hungary!

Hungarian infectious disease specialist: new restrictions may come

János Szlávik, chief infectious disease specialist of the South Pest Central Hospital, spoke about the coronavirus. Szlávik believes that the waves of epidemics mostly consist of an ascending phase and a short stagnation followed by a descending phase. Hungary is currently in the ascending phase.

The Hungarian epidemic situation is getting worse again

The number of people infected with the coronavirus has been steadily rising in recent days. Szlávik also pointed out that there were way more restrictions when the figures were this bad in March. However, an important difference is that there were not that many vaccinated people back then. The Hungarian Government decided not to impose further restrictions probably because it took into account the high vaccination rate.

Although, we do not know what to expect in the future. Many are afraid that there will be further restrictions at Christmas time.

“I do not think anyone can say that, because the number of cases that we have now is very high, so it is also conceivable that the numbers will drop by Christmas time,”

said Szlávik. The government has been organising a vaccination action week to prevent the coronavirus epidemic from deteriorating.

Restrictions may come soon

Szlávik believes that it would be important to introduce new restrictions. Due to limited capacity of the Hungarian health care system, the number of infected people must not increase further. According to Szlávik, the use of the protection card has become more and more widespread. Consequently, the number of people who choose to get vaccinated has been also rising.

“After all, if we restrict an unvaccinated person in his daily life, sooner or later he will be compelled to take the vaccine so that he can continue his everyday life with the same normality as before.”

Vaccinations take time to develop protection. Therefore, whoever wants to be vaccinated should go for vaccination as soon as possible. In addition, it is important to mention that the coronavirus vaccine and the flu shot can be taken at the same time, writes index.hu.

Szlávik also mentioned the anti-coronavirus medicine. There are two pills that are in the third phase of research, said the infectious disease specialist on TV2. Based on current tests, both drugs prove to be effective. They are especially useful to treat mild to moderate symptoms. According to the preliminary studies, one of the pills, that was manufactured by Pfizer, is 89 percent effective for prevention of hospitalization and death.

Obligatory vaccination in Hungary soon? Here is what PM Orbán said

Viktor Orbán
No protective measure can shield people from contracting the coronavirus, only the vaccine can, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday.
 
In a regular interview with public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió, the prime minister noted that the Delta variant of the virus was more aggressive and infectious than its previous variants.
 
Those who are inoculated against Covid are not in danger,
 
he said, adding at the same time that the virus was life threatening to those who have not been vaccinated. Not only are they likely to get infected, but they will also likely end up seriously ill and in hospital, Orbán warned, and encouraged everyone to get the vaccine. Until everyone is inoculated the virus will keep lingering, he said, adding that while less than one percent of those who are vaccinated fall ill with Covid, those who have not received the jab were ten times more at risk.
 
According to 444.hu, the prime minister cleared that the Hungarians would not support obligatory vaccination. But, based on surveys, people back the idea of putting that decision in the hands of the employers. And that is why the government decided so last week.
 
 
Based on the latest COVID news, eighty-three patients died of a Covid-related illness in the past 24 hours, while 6,804 new coronavirus infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Friday. So far 5,967,747 people have received a first jab, while 5,748,682 have been fully vaccinated. Fully 1,315,000 Hungarians have received a booster jab. The number of active infections stands at 56,260, while
 
hospitals are treating 3,629 Covid patients, 366 of whom need respiratory assistance.

Since the first outbreak, 892,164 infections have been registered, while the number of fatalities has risen to 31,184. Fully 804,720 people have made a recovery.
mask restriction hungary
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