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HUNGARIAN AUTHORITIES TAKE PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES AGAINST CORONAVIRUS

 

Liszt Ferenc International operator Budapest Airport has said it will start screening passengers arriving on direct flights from Seoul for fever as a preventive measure against coronavirus. The three weekly direct flights from the South Korean capital are operated by Polish state airline LOT, it noted. Budapest Airport has been checking the temperatures of passengers of all flights from China since Jan. 31 and those of passengers arriving from Italy since Feb. 23, the statement said. So far, 2,676 passengers and 209 crew members have been screened, it added.
Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Coalition has asked the government why no decision has been taken to screen travellers on public roads arriving from virus-hit northern Italy at Hungary’s borders. Citing press reports from Romania, deputy party leader Csaba Molnár said that around 2 million Romanians were working in Italy and around 800,000 of them lived in the northern region of that country. “DK doesn’t want to cause panic but it does want reassuring answers from the government and the authorities,” Molnár said.
Budapest’s ELTE university has told its teachers and students returning from countries affected by coronavirus to stay away from the university for two weeks. Students and teachers returning from China or other countries, with special regard to northern Italy, should contact their doctors immediately if they have a fever, cough or respiratory difficulties, the university said in a circular letter. Patients should always indicate if they have recently visited an area affected by COVID-19 or if they contacted other people with similar symptoms, the letter said. Meanwhile, the University of Szeged also said it would introduce new measures to protect its students and staff. Work-related postings to infected areas are banned and members of the institution who returned from any of those places after Feb. 12 are to stay away from the university for a period of 14 days, it said in a statement. The university also advises suspending any other visits to the areas in question and cancelling any visits by delegations or guests from there. So far, there have been no confirmed coronavirus cases in Szeged, the statement said.
In another development, a swimming pool in Eger, in northern Hungary, has been closed as a precautionary measure after the local water polo team played a Champions League match in virus-hit Brescia, in northern Italy, last weekend.
Further, the Hungarian government’s operative board monitoring the coronavirus outbreak has set up a call centre to provide accurate and up-to-date information to citizens on the virus, the interior ministry reported. The centre can be reached under koronavirus@bm.gov.hu and at 06-80-277-455 or 06-80-277-456 by phone. The board continues to advise against visits to infected areas, including northern Italy, and asks state-run primary and secondary schools not to organise trips to such areas, spokeswoman Kinga Láng-Bognár said.