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Opposition Slams Gov’t for ‘Failed Epidemic Management’ as Hungary’s Covid-19 Death Toll Exceeds 40,000

Hungary Today 2022.01.11.

Hungary is once again leading in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths, for which Viktor Orbán and his administration are responsible,” the opposition alliance, officially named ‘United for Hungary’, announced in a statement. According to the alliance, which consists of Hungary’s main opposition parties, the Orbán-led government’s epidemic management has failed, as evidenced by the fact that more than 40,000 people have already died of the virus in the country.

“There is still no meaningful epidemic management, proper notice, or sufficient testing, and the public is still not receiving honest, fact-based, and transparent disclosure of information.

In such a serious situation it is unacceptable that the government is not taking any substantive action, even though on Sunday the health minister himself announced that more people than ever before could die in the fifth wave of the epidemic,” the opposition alliance wrote.

Fact

According to data aggregator Worldometer, Hungary currently ranks fourth worst-performing country in COVID-19 deaths per million people since the beginning of the pandemic, and also has the fourth worst seven-day rolling average of daily new fatailites based on John Hopkins Unversity’s data table.

The fact that Hungary’s overall coronavirus death toll exceeded 40,000 on Tuesday proves the Orbán-led government’s epidemic control has failed, the parties added.

Hungary’s Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 40,000
Hungary’s Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 40,000

The number of active infections has risen to 113,160.Continue reading

“Now that we are at the beginning of the fifth wave, we have to fear that we will lose more of our fellow countrymen than ever before. We call on the government to immediately launch a vaccination campaign, expand testing capacity, and ensure a sufficient number of respected specialists in hospitals,” the opposition parties demanded.

The alliance also called on what they labeled “the most insensitive and greedy government of all time “to stop its own coronavirus businesses,” and “…address the plight of vulnerable Hungarians in an impactful way.”

“After the change of government in the spring, we will build a health service that provides accessible and high-quality care for all Hungarians, and that offers fair conditions for its workers,” the opposition alliance promised.

MP Hadházy: Thousands of deaths could have been avoided

In a Facebook post, independent MP Ákos Hadházy also slammed the government for Hungary’s death toll exceeding 40,000.

“Please forgive me for speaking out of anger caused by an inability of action instead of silent remembrance, but I consider it one of the greatest failures of my life that we could not prevent such a national tragedy from occurring in Hungary,” the politician wrote.

Hadházy said that every country had victims of the coronavirus and the world of politics cannot be blamed for everything, but what happened in Hungary “was foreseeable.”

It is evident from the good examples of countless countries that the deaths of thousands of Hungarian citizens could have been avoided, the independent MP believes.

In his post, Ákos Hadházy is also harshly critical of human resources minister Miklós Kásler and one of Viktor Orbán’s personal advisers, the rector of Semmelweis University, Béla Merkely, who he says are “serving the election campaign” of the ruling Fidesz party “for the sake of their careers”.

“The Boss [PM Orbán] doesn’t want to waste any more words on possible new protective measures, so Kásler shrugs his shoulders and says: well, there will be 200 fatalities daily. In the meantime, they repeat like parrots that those who have not been vaccinated should get the shot. But they know: the unvaccinated are not the only victims of the epidemic that were lost,” Hadházy writes.

“Not since World War II have so many of our fellow citizens died in a single year as last year, but we simply cannot afford to think of them as a disturbing statistic, a number. I ask you all to pause for a moment today and think of those you know who have fallen victim to the epidemic,” the independent MP concluded his post.

Hungary's 2021 Population Decline Estimated to Be Highest since WWII
Hungary's 2021 Population Decline Estimated to Be Highest since WWII

Also, this is the largest peacetime decline since reliable data recording began in 1876.Continue reading

Featured photo illustration via LMP’s officila Facebook page

 

 


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