COVID-19 in Hungary: new cases down for fifth day in a row
Based on the number of new cases, we may be seeing a tentative downturn in the pandemic curve. With today’s 6,700 new cases, the seven-day moving average has dropped to 8,389, which means
the seven-day average has been decreasing for five consecutive days, indicating the beginning of a favourable trend in the third wave.
It appears that the restrictive measures introduced on 8 March are finally beginning to have an effect three weeks later.
It would be too early to declare a trend reversal yet, however, as we do not know how many tests yielded the 6,700 positive results. (The official government website has not updated this figure today.)
There were 302 coronavirus-related fatalities in Hungary in the past 24 hours, most of them elderly or chronic patients, for another sad new daily record. As reported earlier, any favourable development in the pandemic curve (i.e. in the number of new cases) is only reflected in the number of fatalities several weeks later.
The load on hospitals has not decreased substantially, but the number of people in hospital and the number of patients on ventilators have both dropped, by 207 and 37, respectively. There are now 1,492 patients receiving artificial ventilation, which is somewhere near the maximum capacity of the health system.
The number of samples taken is also a cautious indication of a trend reversal (although the latest testing data is from Tuesday afternoon). Authorities applied more than 32,000 tests in 24 hours, of which 20% came back positive. The positivity rate has been declining, if ever so slightly, for three days in a row. Nevertheless, one in five tests are still positive, which is a very high ratio and suggests that more tests would find more positive cases.
The number of people vaccinated passed the 2 million mark yesterday and is now at 2,011,029.
Cover photo: Getty Images
