Virologist predicts the end of the third wave in Hungary – could it be true?

Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Vakcina Oltás Coronavirus Koronavírus

Photo: MTI/Rosta Tibor

Hungary is still facing difficult days and weeks ahead because of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, a health authority official has warned.

The third wave of the pandemic has yet to peak, Ágnes Galgóczi, the head of the epidemiology department of the National Public Health Centre (NNK), told public media on Sunday, urging people to continue to observe social distancing guidelines and hygiene regulations.

The important thing now is to contain further transmissions of the virus and to ease the burden on the country’s health-care system, she said.

So far, some 1,900,000 people have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, and more than 600,000 have been fully inoculated, Galgóczi said.

She called on the public to avoid crowded areas during the Easter holiday.

MTI also reported that school, kindergarten and preschool teachers have until midnight on Monday to register for the coronavirus vaccine, according to koronavirus.gov.hu.

Around 102,000 of Hungary’s 180,000 teachers working in public education registered for the jab until March 24, and 20,000 of them have already received their first shot.

On another note, the inoculation of pregnant women can be started, the Hungarian Minister of Family Affairs said on Facebook on Sunday.

She noted that pregnant women are advised to be inoculated using Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccines.

The minister reminded the vaccine recipients to have their so-called prenatal care booklet verifying their pregnancy with them when getting the shot.

There are also some refreshing new on other fronts. Although trying days and weeks may be ahead of us, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it might be nearer than first thought. Hungary may see the peak of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the coming days, virologist Miklós Rusvai said on Sunday – MTI reported.

Citing data on the average concentrations of the virus in Hungary’s wastewater systems, Rusvai told public news channel M1 that the country “could be at or nearing the peak of the pandemic”.

He blamed Hungary’s pandemic situation on the more contagious British variant of the virus, which he said likely made its way to the country in December and had now become the dominant strain.