BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary is entering its most difficult period since the coronavirus pandemic began and in the next two weeks hospitals will be under pressure like never before, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.
“I have only bad news,” said Orban in a video on Facebook. “We are facing the two most difficult weeks since the pandemic began. The number of infections is increasing dramatically and will continue to increase due to new mutations.”
On Thursday, Hungary registered 4,385 new infections, the highest number this year.
The Hungarian government extended a partial blockade until March 15, said Orban’s chief of staff earlier in the day.
The next two weeks will be “exceptionally difficult,” Gergely Gulyas said in a government statement, adding that the pace of vaccinations would accelerate after Hungary began launching China’s Sinopharm vaccine on Wednesday.
He said Orban should receive an injection of Sinopharm next week.
Hungary, with a population of around 10 million, has reported 414,514 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with 14,672 deaths.
So far, just over half a million people have received at least one dose of a vaccine.
All secondary schools have been closed since 11 November, as well as hotels and restaurants, except for take-out meals, a 7 pm GMT curfew and all meetings have been banned.
Hungary on Wednesday became the first European Union country to start vaccinating people with Sinopharm injections, after launching Russia’s Sputnik V as part of its vaccination campaign. Chinese and Russian vaccines have not received regulatory approval in the EU.
These injections are now being administered together with Pfizer-BioNTech, vaccine and injections developed by the American company Moderna and the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca.
According to the statistics office, there is a growing desire to get vaccinated, with 40% saying in mid-February that they planned to get vaccinated and 26% saying yes.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Alison Williams, Nick Macfie, Alexandra Hudson)