Economy 10 March 2021, 9:00am

COVID-19: Nearly 180 people died in Hungary over the past 24 hours

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Hungarian authorities diagnosed 5,653 people with coronavirus infection over the past 24 hours, which means that officially 480,860 people have contracted the virus since the outbreak a year ago. 179 people have died of coronavirus-related diseases yesterday, taking the death toll to 16,325, the official government portal koronavirus.gov.hu reported on Wednesday morning. There are currently 8,348 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with 844 of them on ventilators.

A total of 5,653 new COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed over the past 24 hours in Hungary, taking the total to 480,860. The 7-day moving average reached 5,851 per day which marks a new record, and the latest figure is slightly below that.

179 people died of coronavirus-related diseases. The death toll has reached 16,325. Authorities reported 180 deaths on 22 December and more than 180 fatalities only seven times before that, which means a new record could be set shortly.

There are 8,348 coronavirus patients in hospital, 31% more than a week earlier, and 844 of them require artificial ventilation, up 36% from a week ago. This means the load on the health care sector has been increasing at an extremely fast rate.

The vaccination campaign is in progress, and up to date 1,107,791 people have received their first COVID-19 jab and 317,906 have been fully immunised. The third wave in the pandemic is still on an upward trajectory in Hungary, with more and more infections, hospitalisations and deaths. That is why the cabinet decided to implement new lockdown measures, although the response is considered by many as too late (and possibly too little), just like in last autumn.

Up to date, 11.3% of the population have received their first and 3.25% their second shot.

According to the official statistics, 30,752 samples were tested over the past 24 hours, which is considered as a large number. Yet, 18.4% of the tests came back positive, and the average of the past seven days is 20.1%, both are extremely high.