COVID-19 in Hungary: more than 21,000 tests on Tuesday

In the past 24 hours, 3,945 new COVID infections were found in Hungary, increasing the total since March to 122,863. The death toll rose to 2,697 as the virus claimed the lives of 101, mostly elderly or chronic, patients, while 28,808 people have recovered from the disease. The number of active cases is 91,358. There are now 6,352 coronavirus patients in hospital, with 473 of them on ventilators.

Unfortunately, the decrease in new cases does not mean the outbreak is letting up in Hungary. All signs have so far pointed to the uncontrolled spread of the virus, and as no measures to substantially slow it have been in place until now, today’s relatively lower figure should be seen as fluctuation in an otherwise increasing trend.

The 101 fatalities sadly come as no surprise at this stage of the pandemic, and the daily toll is expected to increase as the virus spreads further.

To support the above, the number of patients in severe condition is rising steeply, increasing by nearly 200 in 24 hours, while the number of people receiving artificial ventilation also rose by 12 despite the high number of fatalities.

Interestingly, the positivity rate of tests dropped below 20% from the more than 30% seen in recent days. This was partly because authorities applied 21,000 tests yesterday, only the third day since March when test numbers were above 20,000.

The good news is that daily new cases did not rise even with the higher number of tests, and a lower positivity rate is always a good sign. Nevertheless, it is too early to draw far-reaching conclusions s the dynamics of the outbreak do not change this quickly, especially not on their own.

Cover photo: Getty Images