In terms of countries that have a population greater than 100 thousand people, Hungary has the most coronavirus related deaths relative to its population. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 26 thousand Hungarians have passed away, with around 1,700 people dying every week for the past four weeks.
Only Gibraltar stands ahead of Hungary in this category, but with 94 total deaths, it is only there because of its population of 33,683 people.
Czechia was ahead of Hungary for the entirety of the third wave, but it is now registering much fewer new cases, and its daily deaths reported are around one tenth of the numbers reported in Hungary. The news is even more harrowing when considering that the two countries’ populations are roughly the same size.
With 214 deaths and 3,607 new infections registered in the last 24 hours, the third wave is nowhere near over in Hungary. 876 people are on ventilators, and 7,507 people are currently hospitalized because of the virus.
However, head of the Prime minister’ Office Gergely Gulyás recently denied the validity of the death rate statistics. According to the minister, the reason why Hungary’s numbers are so high is because unlike other countries, it includes people who would have otherwise passed away in its coronavirus related deaths. Gulyás believes Hungary’s deathrate is actually better than most countries.
Although the pandemic situation is still very severe in Hungary, and the country has been registering the most fatalities in the world for a month (based on the rolling 7-day average), the government has started its gradual reopening based on the number of people vaccinated. According to them, it is the number of people protected from the coronavirus that counts the most for reopening.
Featured photo illustration by Zoltán Balogh/MTI