Hungary still facing difficult weeks ahead, warns health official

The third wave of the pandemic has yet to peak, Agnes Galgoczi, 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, Galgoczi said.

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

Virologist: Pandemic may peak in coming days

Hungary may see the peak of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the coming days, virologist Miklos Rusvai said on Sunday.

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.

Rusvai said if Hungary could maintain its current pace of vaccinations, “then we really could be free by the summer”.

Vaccination of pregnant women begins

Hungary has begun to allow pregnant women to be inoculated against the coronavirus out of turn, the minister for family affairs said on Sunday.

Pregnant women who want to get the vaccine are asked to register online and contact their general practitioner who will then organise their inoculation at a hospital vaccination point, Katalin Novak said on Facebook.

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.

Teachers have until Monday to register for vaccine

School, kindergarten and preschool teachers have until midnight on Monday to register for the coronavirus vaccine, according to koronavirus.gov.hu.

The government last week decided that teachers who have registered for a Covid-19 shot will be the next category to be inoculated.

The first round of vaccinations on April 1-3 will be reserved for teachers who registered by March 24, the portal said, adding that they will be contacted in the middle of next week by text message.

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. This means that about 82,000 teachers will be inoculated in the first round, the portal said.

The second round of vaccinations will be organised after Easter.