BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary is entering the most difficult period since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and in the next two weeks hospitals will be under pressure like never before, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.
“I just have bad news,” Orban said in a Facebook video. “We are facing the most difficult two weeks since the start of the pandemic. The number of infections is increasing sharply and will continue to increase due to the new mutations.”
On Thursday, Hungary reported 4,385 new infections, the highest number this year.
The Hungarian government has extended a partial exclusion until March 15, Orban’s chief of staff said earlier in the day.
The next two weeks would be ‘extremely difficult’, Gergely Gulyas said at an intergovernmental conference, adding that the rate of vaccinations would accelerate after Hungary launched the Synopharm vaccine against China on Wednesday.
He said Orban is expected to get a Synopharm shot next week.
Hungary, with a population of about 10 million, has reported 414,514 cases since the onset of the pandemic, with 14,672 deaths.
To date, just over half a million people have received at least one dose of vaccine.
All secondary schools have been closed since November 11, as well as hotels and restaurants, except for takeaways. There was an evening clock of 1900 GMT and all gatherings were forbidden.
Hungary on Wednesday became the first country in the European Union to start vaccinating people with Sinopharm shots, after the Russian Sputnik V was rolled out as part of its vaccination campaign. The Chinese and Russian vaccines have not been approved in the EU.
These shots are now being administered in conjunction with the Pfizer-BioNTech, vaccine and shots developed by the American company Moderna and the Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.
According to the statistics office, there is an increasing willingness to get a vaccine, with 40% saying in mid-February that they plan to get a vaccine, and 26% saying they may do so.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Alison Williams, Nick Macfie, Alexandra Hudson)