“17 million 516 thousand face masks arrived in Hungary over the past week, and shipments of the equipment needed for protecting against the coronavirus epidemic will also be arriving continuously this week”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in his pre-agenda speech before Parliament on Monday.

“As a result, we have now approached the one hundred million mark with relation to the number of face masks imported since the outbreak of the global pandemic”, the Minister highlighted. “620 respirators also arrived last week, and the shipment of parts is also occurring continuously”, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó said that since his last report 32 aeroplanes had arrived from China, and protective equipment had arrived in Hungary from various other airports in Europe aboard ten heavy good vehicles.

“525 thousand virus test kits arrived over the past week, bringing the total number of tests imported to almost 2.5 million, with contracts still in force for the acquisition of a further 1.2 million”, the Minister said. “In addition, a total of 16 million 140 thousand sets of PPE clothing including face visors, gloves and isolation jackets also arrived, bringing the total number imported to over 56 million, with a further 13 million expected. The 850 thousand pharmaceuticals we ordered have also arrived”, he added.

He pointed out that a donation of over 70 thousand face masks had arrived from China for Budapest’s 6th District, the distribution of which is in process.
“In recent weeks, several pieces of news have been published with relation to the quality of the products imported from China, and concerning the fact that they do not conform to European standards”, the Foreign Minister mentioned. “This is untrue. The products do conform to the relative standards and can be freely used in Europe in the fight against the epidemic”, he declared.
“The global pandemic continues to determine political public speech and everyday life. The political, economy and healthcare debate on the possible easing of restrictions is ongoing throughout Europe, some of which have already been introduced, and the debate is also continuous with relation to concerns relating to the easing of restrictions, and particularly their unforeseen consequences”, he explained.

“Everyone is attempting to find a balance between healthcare protection and rebooting the economy”, he stated. “Healthcare protection is clearly the most important task, but we must be aware of the fact, concerning the rebooting of the economy, that it may be stated with relation to every aspect of the global economy: nothing will be as it was before”, he said.

“Easing restrictions means an increase in human contact, which may lead to an increase in pressure on the healthcare system”, he emphasised. “This is why the restrictions introduced by the government were so important, and which enabled the healthcare system to be supplied with the necessary equipment while the measures were in place”, the Foreign Minister explained.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)