25,000th Covid death registered

The number of active infections stands at 270,295, while hospitals are caring for 8,445 Covid patients, 1,051 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 47,751 people in official quarantine, while 5,124,731 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 750,508 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 25,184. Fully 455,029 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, Gyor-Moson-Sopron and Hajdu-Bihar.

DK calls for hoisting black flag

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has called on the government to drape a black flag over the facade of Parliament to mark the 25,000th death in Hungary since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last spring.

DK lawmaker Zoltan Varga told a press conference streamed on Facebook that the high number of deaths could have been prevented by “the appropriate use of resources”.

“But seeing the rise in the numbers, Viktor Orban’s government embarked on the National Consultation asking the public about [the country’s] reopening, and when they realised the extent of the problem, they attempted to put the blame on the opposition,” Varga said.

He called on the government to admit to its missteps such as “an unwillingness to make effective preparations including mass testing”.

Varga also accused the government of failing to ask the international community for help when resources started to run perilously low and health-care forces were inadequate for the task of caring for the explosion in caseload.

In a statement in response, ruling Fidesz accused “the party led by Ferenc Gyurcsany” of having run a signature drive “against vaccinations”, and added that the DK leader was “still waging an anti-vax campaign”.

“One of DK’s local government deputies who got infected by coronavirus died because the politician believed in what Gyurcsany said and rejected a vaccine,” Fidesz said, demanding that DK “immediately withdraw its draft resolution on terminating the vaccination drive” which it said “is putting lives at risk”.