The number of patients treated in hospital for coronavirus infection is on the rise, the Chief Medical Officer said at the Saturday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic.

Cecília Müller said, also during the epidemic, the administration of compulsory vaccines is under way. She underlined that the Hungarian vaccination regime is exceptional in the entire world. She also highlighted that in Hungary there is a 99.8 per cent vaccination rate against 12 different infectious diseases. Additionally, the Hungarian government also offers vaccination against HPV (human papillomavirus). She observed they sincerely hope that researchers will also develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

She said one of the patients who died the previous day was 41 years old. She added that this person had suffered from bacterial sepsis which had been aggravated by coronavirus infection.

Informing members of the public of the latest epidemic figures, Ms. Müller said the number of confirmed patients had risen to 2,443.

There are now 899 persons being treated in hospital; 54 of them require assisted ventilation, while 458 patients have recovered from the disease.

Parallel with this, as part of extensive contact searches, the number of laboratory tests is also on the rise, meaning that so far 60,801 tests have been carried out, she listed.

In answer to a press enquiry, claiming that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Hungary could be one of the countries that could manage to avoid an exponential rise in the epidemic, the Chief Medical Officer said, thanks to the measures implemented by the government and the discipline of members of the public, so far we have managed to keep the epidemic under control. Therefore, they are hoping that incidences will not become mass.

In answer to another question, she said the disinfecting of elderly care homes is ongoing. Those care homes are being disinfected first where infections have been registered, to be followed by others where the virus is not present yet.

A disease control investigation concerning conditions in elderly care homes is also under way. They are first inspecting homes with more than a hundred residents, while these will be followed by homes with fewer residents. Comprehensive results are expected for the end of next week, she added.

She stressed that the mortality rate among the infected should be assessed in relation to the total population figure. According to this, Hungary falls into the lower one third of Member States of the European Union where the fatality rate is not high, she said.

She also mentioned that the protective supplies ordered by the government are not intended for retail; they are distributed among those most at risk, including health care and social workers and members of the law enforcement agencies.

At the press conference, the Chief Medical Officer thanked researchers and health care workers as well as police officers, on the occasion of St. George’s Day, for their ongoing work in the fight against the coronavirus.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)