Hungary plans to re-open schools amidst record COVID-19 deaths
Health care capacities sufficient
Gulyás said the health care system can cope with the influx of COVID-19 patients, adding that the ventilation capacity is 1,678.
Hospital capacities can be increased further. Medical students and interns are now also taking part in the hard work
, he assured.
Responding to a question, Gulyás stressed
it is not true that there's a shortage of staff capacity, it is not true that patients are left untreated.
He assured that if the number of COVID-19 patients rose by several thousand, their care would still be ensured, the government is ready for this.
He said 500 healthcare students and volunteers signed up to help in scope of a national campaign, and that medical students and interns have been deployed in hospitals. There's also an option to deploy GPs and those working in private health care but this was not necessary yet, he added.
Others are less optimistic about the capacity of hospitals to treat patients.
Gulyás said coronavirus has been spreading even more rapidly in several countries than in Hungary.
If this is supposed to be a silver lining, well, the minister needs to step up his game. This gives no comfort whatsoever.
There were 9,637 new confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and 272 fatalities yesterday, the official government website said Thursday morning. The latter is a new record high. There are 11,760 coronavirus patients in hospital, a slight decrease, but the number of patients on ventilators rose further to 1,467. Hungary has overtaken the Czech Republic and is now No.1 in the world in respect of the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths per one million people.
More vaccines to be delivered
Hungary will have more vaccines available than ever before, said Gulyás.
Well, this happens when you keep receiving stuff. It's not rocket science. It would be much appreciated, however, if we were given specific numbers on the planned vaccine deliveries and details about the vaccination campaign.
Hungary is expected to receive vaccines from China before the contracted dates, said Gulyás, adding that more vaccines from EU procurements over the next few weeks. (Isn't this slightly vague, minister?)
Here are some re-opening dates
The re-opening of the Hungarian economy is planned on the basis of vaccination numbers, said the minister.
Once 2.5 million people are vaccinated against COVID-19 primary and secondary schools, and kindergartens will be re-opened within a week. Their re-opening is planned for 12 or 19 April at the earliest.
Teachers and nursery school teachers who have registered will be inoculated before that. The Operational Corps will make a call in this regard, he added.
Note that it takes two to three weeks after the first shot to develop some degree of immunity against coronavirus, so let's hope authorities will take this into consideration when deciding when to inoculate teachers. Zsuzsa Szabó, President of the Teachers' Union, told commercial broadcaster ATV on Wednesday that about 60 teachers have died of coronavirus-related diseases in the current pandemic, although this was learned from a survey of hundreds of teachers, as there are no official data available.
The final exams in secondary schools will be held as scheduled, said Gulyás.
Those who registered will be vaccinated by the end of May, even the youngest ones. This [goal] appears to be realistic.
Upon the announcement of the re-opening plan, they will also make it public what the immunity certificates will be good for.
When will the pandemic peak?
When asked about projections about the peak of the third wave, Gulyás replied that
it's hard to predict [but] on the basis of mathematical estimates we could be close to the peak of the third wave, but it could also be here in the next weeks.
When can the newly approved vaccines be used?
Hungary’s National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition (OGYÉI) has approved the Chinese-made Convidecia COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use earlier this week, and a second new vaccine, India's Covishield (developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca), has also been green-lighted for emergency use.
No contracts have been signed as yet with Cansino and Covishield, but as soon as it happens we'll give you details, said Gulyás.
Actually, while Cansino is the producer of Convidecia, Covishild is not a manufacturer but the name of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Serum Inistitute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer.
The minister also said that Hungary ordered 4,360 doses of Johnson & Johnson's single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, and the first shipment will arrive in April.
Will stores be re-opened?
The government is to look into a recommendation by the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK) for a floorspace-based re-opening in the retail sector, but will approve only if it does not create significant epidemiological risks.
The concern is that those waiting for their turn outside the stores would gather dangerously close to each other. Such scenes are best to be avoided therefore they are waiting for an Operational Corps recommendation in this regard.
More to follow!
