Hungary's COVID-19 deaths near record on eve of partial lockdown

The number of people hospitalised with COVID-19 rose to 6,153 on Tuesday, with a record number of 461 patients on ventilators, the government said, after Budapest increased hospital provision for COVID-19 patients at the weekend. "In Hungary, everyone can have access to a hospital bed, treatment and ventilators and the newly-introduced protective measures are aimed at ensuring that this remains the case," it said in a statement.

Hungary reported 103 new COVID-19 deaths, near Saturday's daily record of 107, the government said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected partial lockdown to slow the pace of infections. In a shift from his policy of avoiding tough restrictions to protect the economy, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced a limited lockdown from Wednesday to avoid hospitals being overwhelmed.

The new measures include the closure of secondary schools, a curfew from 1900 GMT until 0400 GMT and a ban on gatherings. Hungarian teachers' union PDSZ, which has urged parents to keep their children at home to protect teachers and parents, said Orban's latest measures were a step in the right direction but probably insufficient.

It said the spread of the virus was out of control in schools because of the government's "insufficient and belated pandemic response measures". The number of people hospitalised with COVID-19 rose to 6,153 on Tuesday, with a record number of 461 patients on ventilators, the government said, after Budapest increased hospital provision for COVID-19 patients at the weekend.

"In Hungary, everyone can have access to a hospital bed, treatment and ventilators and the newly-introduced protective measures are aimed at ensuring that this remains the case," it said in a statement. By Monday, Hungary had reported the third-highest COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 people in Europe for the last 14 days based on data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, a European Union agency.

The Hungarian Medical Chamber has launched "Project Reality" to provide what it says is an accurate view of the situation in Hungarian hospitals. It said the availability of protective gear was largely adequate but that the rescheduling of some elective surgery was unlikely to be enough to ensure staff can cope with the rising number of new cases.