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HUNGARY ‘NOT READY’ TO EASE RESTRICTIONS YET

 

Hungary is not yet in a position to start easing lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the prime minister’s chief of staff has said.
Pressing ahead with vaccinations was the only way to protect people, Gergely Gulyás told a weekly online press briefing. Citing the projections of experts, he said Hungary was nearing the peak of the third wave of the pandemic. Though the daily caseload and death rate is “extremely” high, Hungary’s health-care system has sufficient capacity to treat all patients, Gulyás said. If rules are strictly observed, “lifting the restrictions may be just weeks or even days away,” he added. Noting new cases in the past 24 hours amounting to over 6,500 as well as 207 Covid-related deaths, Gulyás said the third wave was expected to be “tougher” than the previous two. He thanked health-care staff for their work, including senior medical students who have been involved in the protection efforts since last week. Hungary still has 11,000 free beds and 1,700 unused ventilators, he said. The health-care system is capable of treating two-and-a-half times more people needing ventilators than the current numbers, Gulyás said.