Economy 22 March 2021, 9:25am

COVID-19 in Hungary: 9,406 new cases on Sunday

Portfolio

The number of new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the past 24 hours in Hungary was 9,406, increasing the total since last March to 580,642. The death toll rose to 18.451 after the disease claimed the lives of 189, mostly elderly or chronic, patients, the official government website said.

Authorities confirmed 9,406 new cases yesterday, and although there have been higher daily figures in recent days, it is near the peak. The seven-day moving average is also at a new high and has rose above 8,000.

The number of fatalities was 189, a welcome respite after the 200-plus data in recent days, but the seven-day average is already at 195, higher than today’s fatality figure.

Oer the past weekend, more than 1,000 people were hospitalised with the coronavirus. There are now 11,276 patients treated in hospital.

This means the number of coronavirus patients in hospital rose by 624 in a day, another new record.

The number of people receiving artificial ventilation rose by 67 in 24 hours. This is alarming because the daily change has only been higher once, at 74 in early March.

Authorities applied 31,564 tests yesterday, nearly 29% of which came back positive. The positivity rate remains very high and indicates that the pandemic is in full swing in Hungary.

The vaccination drive is continuing in Hungary. So far, 1,589,601 people have received at least one shot and 479,389 received both. This means only about 26,000 people were vaccinated yesterday, fewer than in previous days, but this is due to the weekend. Based on the latest numbers, vaccination coverage is now 16.27% and 4.91%, respectively.