Another Hungarian suspected of having been infected with the coronavirus will be placed in hospital quarantine in Budapest on Tuesday. At a press conference in Budapest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Minister of State for Information and the International Representation of Hungary Tamás Menczer told reporters that the Hungarian truck driver had been in Lombardy, does not have a temperature, and is feeling fine.

“The truck driver has already been picked up by the National Ambulance Service and is being taken to hospital, where he will spend two weeks in quarantine. “Another truck driver has indicated that he is in the quarantined-off area of Lombardy, but has no symptoms and is living in his vehicle”, the Minister of State said.

“A quarantine has been ordered in two Italian provinces, in ten settlements in Lombardy and one settlement in Veneto”, Mr. Menczer said, adding: “Only people who have truly urgent business should travel to these territories, but it is also worth considering the situation before travelling to the rest of Italy”. “According to the information provided by Italy’s chief medical officer, there are no Hungarians among those identified as having been infected with the coronavirus in Italy”, he stated.

“There are Hungarians in the hotel complex that has been placed in quarantine because of the coronavirus in Tenerife. Hungary’s honorary consul at the location has been informed through non-official sources that there are also Hungarian citizens in the hotel complex, but their exact number is as yet unknown”, the Minister of State told the press. “A consul will be travelling from Madrid to join the honorary consul, and if necessary further staff will be sent to Tenerife”, he added. “An Italian guest at the hotel complex in the Canary Islands, where there are currently around a thousand people, was diagnosed with the coronavirus infection”, Mr. Menczer explained. “The test of a Hungarian man aboard the Japanese ship that has been placed under quarantine off the coast of Japan came back positive; he has been taken to hospital, and if his test is positive again he will be put under observation, because otherwise he is currently feeling fine and is symptom-free”, he told the press.

With relation to China, the Minister of State said there are 172 Hungarians currently in the country according to consular registrations. Twenty of them are in the most highly infected province, and all of them are feeling fine. “The coronavirus infection is currently affecting 11 countries in Europe, and the Hungarian government is doing everything possible to ensure that the infection does not get across the border. There is still no information with relation to the fact that anybody in Hungary has become ill, but the appearance of the infection cannot be excluded”, Mr. Menczer said. “The school party from Italy who have been placed in quarantine here are symptom-free”, he added.

“In accordance with the opinion of Hungarian experts and with international protocol, heat cameras are being used to test people at airports”, the Minister of State said. With relation to Italy, he pointed out that none of Italy’s neighbours have introduced travel restrictions so far.

“The safety of the Hungarian people is most important to the Hungarian government, and it is considering the situation accordingly, and is also providing all possible assistance to Hungarians who have become ill abroad”, he emphasised. “The claim being voiced by the opposition according to which the administration is not communicating with relation to the coronavirus epidemic is nonsense”, Mr. Menczer declared.

(MTI)