Thanks to the disciplined containment effort, we have succeeded in flattening the curve of the spread of the virus in Hungary, Spokesperson of the Government Communication Centre Örs Farkas said on the public service television news channel M1 on Thursday morning.

He added that members of the public have observed the restrictions and tightened regulations; however, at the weekend, their level of discipline dropped somewhat, particularly in and around Budapest.

The spokesperson said since the initial appearance of the epidemic, the situation has proved to be better than expected. Compared with other EU Member States, the epidemic reached Hungary later, and thanks to this, the number of incidences falling on 100,000 persons is very low both in the region and compared with the European Union’s overall data, he said, observing that this is owing to the fact that restrictions and tightened regulations which reduced the number of face-to-face interactions were introduced in a timely manner. 

Mr Farkas stressed that the entire world is in an extremely difficult situation as the health care pandemic caused by the coronavirus has also resulted in an economic crisis.

The present situation is difficult because managing an epidemic that is affecting the whole world and the economic difficulties that have emerged in consequence is a complex task, the spokesperson said.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)