The number of recovered patients is substantially higher than the number of active infections, the Chief Medical Officer pointed out at the Tuesday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic.

Cecília Müller stressed that the number of recovered patients was substantially higher than the number of active infected patients. Since the beginning of the epidemic, 3,771 confirmed positive coronavirus patients have been registered, including 1,436 active cases of infection and 1,836 recovered patients. The number of fatalities currently stands at 499, she added.

She said in the past 24 hours the number of positive cases has risen by 15, and eight elderly persons suffering from chronic diseases have died.

Forty-one per cent of active infected patients are in Budapest, while 59 per cent in the countryside. The number of persons treated in hospital has fallen to 436, including 27 requiring assisted ventilation. Five of the new patients are from Budapest, four from Pest County, two from Nógrád County and Zala County each, and one from Komárom-Esztergom County and Veszprém County each.

In the total population, 38 positive cases fall on 100,000 residents; this number is 102 in Budapest, 92 in Zala County, 88 in Fejér County, 81 in Komárom-Esztergom County and 41 in Pest County, she said.

She highlighted that banishing the virus from closed communities and increasing the number of recovered patients in these institutions were among the greatest challenges. Therefore, in the second phase, screening tests will continue in further elderly care homes and social institutions.

According to the Chief Medical Officer’s information, the number of institutions affected by the coronavirus has not risen. In the 33 institutions concerned, 5,991 persons are being cared for by 2,301 carers. 886 residents and 141 care home workers have been infected with the virus so far, 115 persons have died and the number of recovered residents has risen to 371.

Ms. Müller also mentioned that according to the data of the Baltimore-based John Hopkins University, worldwide 5.5 million positive coronavirus cases have been registered and 346,000 persons have died of the disease brought on by the virus. In the United States, the number of confirmed infections currently stands at around 1.6 million, including almost 98,000 fatalities, while in Brazil 363,000 cases have been registered and some 23,000 persons have died of coronavirus infection.

In Europe at present, there are 2,073,000 confirmed positive cases, and 174,500 persons have died due to coronavirus infection. In Russia 350,000 confirmed coronavirus cases have been registered, including more than 3,600 fatalities.

She said there are high numbers of infected persons in the United Kingdom, Italy and Austria; in the latter country, 16,500 cases have been confirmed and 641 persons have died of the disease caused by the virus. The areas worst affected by the epidemic include Tyrol, Vienna, Lower Austria and Upper Austria.

She observed that raw data are not comparable; however, in Hungary “in the descending phase of the epidemic, we can be happy about the results we have achieved together”.

She drew attention to the fact that on the website of the National Centre for Public Health the evaluation of domestic open water bathing areas has been released. According to the relevant rules of the European Union, the quality of water is graded every four years. In Hungary, 90 per cent of the inspected bathing areas have been awarded excellent or good grades, she added.

She said in 2019 throughout the country 257 licensed open water bathing areas operated; 237 of them were graded. 77 per cent of them were awarded excellent grades, 13 per cent were given good grades, while 5 per cent fell into the satisfactory category.

(MTI)