The number of coronavirus patients is stagnating at around 500 to 600 in Hungary, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office said on Kossuth Radio’s programme ‘Sunday Paper’.

The Minister said the measures introduced a few weeks ago such as the more stringent monitoring of persons crossing the border or the classification of foreign countries into risk categories are appropiate and have proved to work well.

He recalled that, based on the Operational Group’s recommendations, the government decides on any changes, including any changes in the classification of foreign countries, with weekly regularity.

“At this point in time, we take the view that if no one reintroduces the virus from abroad, in Hungary, subject to compliance with the rules currently in effect – which have proved to work well – we can keep the number of infections low also by European standards,” Mr Gulyás said.

He also said the government has set aside HUF 5.3 billion to help people working in the music industry which has been hit hard by the cancellation of the entire festival season. He added that the government understands the disappointment of these people, but at this time safety and protecting human lives are the top priorities.

The Hungarian Tourism Agency will publish the details regarding eligibility for grants shortly, the Minister pointed out.

Regarding employment data, he said the Hungarian economy appears to be strong enough to enable the government to deliver on its promise to create as many new jobs as were destroyed by the virus. He added that compared with June data, at present 38,000 fewer people are in employment, but as it is more people have jobs now than in January.

“Therefore, we sincerely hope that as early as before the end of the summer the level of employment could be restored to the employment level recorded a year earlier,” Mr Gulyás said, adding that last year’s level was a record high as some 4.5 million people were in employment then.

Commenting on the case of the news portal Index.hu, the Minister said the government has no say in the removal of the editor-in-chief and the resignation of journalists on the staff. “The fact that something like this could happen is levelled at the government as an accusation. But at the end of the day, why couldn’t it happen? If there is a dispute within an editorial board, in the case of private owners, the government has no say whatsoever in that. If the government did try to intervene in any way, freedom of the press would then be curtailed,” he highlighted.

(MTI/Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)