People can still only leave their homes for essential reasons, a staff member of the duty centre of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus infection said at an online press conference held on Saturday.

Police Lt. Colonel Róbert Kiss said, pursuant to an earlier decision of the government, the restrictions on movement will remain in effect until 3 May. The government will decide regarding new rules in a decree. However, until then, according to the present rules, people are only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons. Life can only be restarted and the restrictive measures can only be lifted gradually, according to a stringent timetable.

The local governments of settlements have the authority to determine more stringent rules for this weekend as well, he added.

Regarding police checks, he stressed that in the past 24 hours the police had been compelled to take action in a record number of instances, 1,545 times in total, including 696 cautions, 459 onsite fines and 390 prosecutions.

On Friday, 536 persons were ordered into compulsory home quarantine; as a result, at present, 10,942 compulsory home quarantine orders are in force. In the past 24 hours, the police have taken action against persons in compulsory home quarantine in 24 instances. He added that the police had checked compliance with the rules of compulsory home quarantine since 12 March, and had imposed sanctions due to 1,231 breaches.

He reported that overnight another delivery of protective supplies had arrived, including 2,600,000 face masks, 10,000 protective overalls and 21 ventilators. These have been taken into stock and delivered to the central warehouse.

Regarding the Hegyeshalom II land border crossing point reopened on Friday, he said at present cross-border commuters and agricultural vehicles can only cross the border during fixed intervals of 3 hours. However, from Monday, crossing will be available from 5.00 a.m. until 9.00 p.m.

In the context of border traffic, he said there are delays in cargo traffic on the entry side at Rajka and on the exit side at Csanádpalota.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)