Past experience indicates that the spread of the coronavirus in Hungary could start slowing again in mid-to-late April, János Szlávik, senior infectologist of the South-Pest Central Hospital, told public media on Saturday.
Hungary right now is in “the most severe days” of the third wave of the pandemic, with record caseloads and a high number of hospitalized Covid patients, Szlávik said.
“Everyone has to be very careful now and observe the regulations,” he said, adding that the Easter holiday would be especially dangerous, as people are more prone to infection when spending time with their families without masks.
Many other European countries are dealing with similarly high caseloads, Szlávik said, noting the slow pace of vaccinations across the continent.
“With the vaccines it is using right now, Hungary is capable of vaccinating a lot more people than many other European countries, but at the moment even this is not enough,” he said.
Szlávik welcomed the Hungarian drug regulator’s decision to license two more types of vaccines.
Hungary’s National Medicines and Food Health Institute (OGYÉI) announced on Monday that it has granted licenses for use to the Chinese CanSino coronavirus vaccine and Covishield, AstraZeneca’s vaccine produced in India.
Featured photo illustration by Szilárd Koszticsák/MTI
