On Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had talks by telephone with Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief informed the Hungarian news agency MTI.
As part of a corporate-university cooperation scheme, Hungarian experts have developed a portable ventilator that is effective in the treatment of respiratory failure caused by the novel coronavirus. By filtering the outflowing air, the local invention – that can be equally operated utilising a battery and cylinder combination – provides protection for health care workers treating patients.
The country’s food supply is guaranteed, the Ministry of Agriculture is in ongoing communication with actors of the food supply chain, Róbert Zsigó, Minister of State for the Supervision of the Food Supply Chain of the Ministry of Agriculture said at the Tuesday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic.
“Four aeroplanes brought 4.9 million face masks, 2 million pairs of gloves, 193 pieces of protective clothing and 170 thousand test kits to Budapest via the China-Hungary airlift on Tuesday”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.
The number of deceased residents of the Pesti út elderly care home has risen to 27, and the second round of tests has come back with positive results in the case of another 58 residents and 4 workers, the Chief Medical Officer said at the Tuesday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic, adding that the number of confirmed coronavirus patients has increased to above two thousand.
Ukrainian, Romanian and Serbian guest workers heading for Western Europe are only being allowed to enter the territory of Hungary during a fixed period of four hours. Further conditions are that they do not display symptoms of coronavirus infection, verify that they meet the Schengen entry requirements, and have proof that their entry into the country of destination is guaranteed, a staff member of the duty centre of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic said at an online press conference held on Tuesday.
“Hungary and Austria will be tightening their cooperation even further in the upcoming period in the interests of mitigating the negative effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic and rebooting the economy as soon as possible”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated following a video meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on Tuesday.
“President of the European Council Charles Michel and European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders are engaged in a vendetta against Hungary because of migration”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
“The government must strive to maintain fiscal discipline even during the coronavirus epidemic, but we must not doggedly insist on keeping the budget deficit under three percent, because preserving jobs and rebooting the economy must now be given priority”, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said on Kossuth Radio’s “Sunday Paper” show.
On 3 May, based on the experiences of several countries, Hungary will be able to have a recovery plan, a plan for returning to normality, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview given to Maria Radio on Monday.