Economy 19 February 2021, 8:45am

COVID-19 in Hungary: 3,093 new cases on Thursday

Portfolio

The number of new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Hungary in the past 24 hours was 3,093, another sizeable increase following the previous day’s outstanding figure. The number of severe cases also increased, and the number of fatalities was 110, the highest for the past month.

As is now usual, Friday morning’s virus statistics were brought to us not by the official government website but by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his weekly Friday morning radio interview. Today’s numbers confirm a major spike in the pandemic following weeks of stagnation. The slope of the trend line is now steeper and Hungary is clearly in an accelerating phase.

This is also confirmed by the number of severe cases, and especially by the jump in the number of people on ventilators.

Unfortunately, the number of fatalities has also increased following a few days of decrease. As this number follows that of new cases with a delay, we can expect an even further increase.

26,000 people were vaccinated yesterday, bringing vaccination coverage in Hungary to 4%. About a quarter of Hungary’s population will be vaccinated by early April, Orbán said, although it is unclear if he meant the first or second shot.