“Consular service staff remain at their stations so they can assist Hungarian citizens who possibly find themselves in trouble”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó highlighted in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“The dramatic increase in the number of people infected by the coronavirus indicates that the epidemic has flared up again all over the world”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “The government’s most important task is to prevent this from being transmitted to Hungary, so they can protect the Hungarian people. This is why strict measures must again be introduced, and this is when we have again introduced travel restrictions at our borders”, he added.
The Minister also said that fewer border crossing stations are open for use than usual. The list of accessible border crossing stations is available on the police website, he said. “The consular service has placed every single country in the word in the red category. This means that although people are not banned from travelling abroad, it is not recommended. A legal consequence of this is that people who have already paid for foreign holidays can terminate their agreements and have the right to request a full refund”, he explained.

Mr. Szijjártó also recalled that when the borders had to be closed in the spring, commuting was one of the most important related issues. “We are now enabling commuting so that Hungarian who work on the other side of the border can go to work”, he said. “The time of crossing the border is registered, and people must return within 24 hours to avoid having to go into quarantine”, he explained.

He also spoke about the fact that the Ministry is in continuous contact with the authorities and foreign ministries of other countries. “We already held discussions with the foreign minsters of Central European and Visegrád Group countries on Monday, during the course of which we received the required safety guarantees, and accordingly Czech, Slovakian and Polish citizens who have already paid for vacations will be able to enter Hungary with a negative COVID test result. In addition, Hungarian citizens will also be able to travel to the Visegrád Group countries based on similar regulations”, he explained.

“We are continuously monitoring the development of the epidemiological situation, and if necessary will be amending the regulations that came into force on Tuesday, which for the moment are valid for a temporary period of one month”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade / MTI)