The government adopted certain measures already before the start of the coronavirus epidemic in order to contain its spread and to protect the elderly. By contrast, Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony failed to prepare elderly care homes in the capital for the epidemic, the Spokesperson for the Government Communication Centre said on the public service television news channel M1 on Monday.

According to Örs Farkas, while the Pesti út elderly care home has become an epicentre, the situation is slowly becoming the same in all such metropolitan institutions. Today, every tenth resident of such institutions is a confirmed coronavirus patient, he added.

He said there are around 59,000 persons living in elderly care homes, including 4,000 in institutions operated by the metropolitan municipality. Ten per cent of the latter have been infected, while the infection rate of residents in care homes operated by entities other than the metropolitan municipality does not even reach one per cent.

The spokesperson said it is sad that every sixth victim of the coronavirus in Hungary came from an institution operated by the metropolitan municipality.

“This is due to the fact – in addition to many minor deficiencies – that the metropolitan municipality failed to carry out preparations of this type, and the institutions were not ready to manage such a situation,” Mr Farkas said.

He added that several different investigations are being carried out in order to uncover deficiencies, but in his view, one of the gravest problems was the absence of medical supervision.

The heads of the institutions concerned are responsible, but so is the operator, meaning the metropolitan municipality and Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony who is still delaying decisions and keeps pointing the finger at the government, Mr Farkas stated.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister / MTI)