Hungary has also ordered 47,753 pieces of protective equipment and has received 27 million so far, Péter Szijjártó said.

A further 100 of the 14,490 ventilators ordered are expected to arrive today, as are 135,000 more of the 3.3 million testing kits ordered and 200 patient monitors, he added.

A Chinese production line under assembly in Sátoraljaújhely, in NE Hungary, will start operation within days to produce 2.8 million masks a month, the minister told parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Some 400,000 pills received from China contain an active ingredient that researchers said could be effective in treating coronavirus patients.

It is the national responses that “are working” in the current crisis situation whereas international organisations are only trying to find their place, he said, referring to the European Union.

“Nothing will be the same after the pandemic,” Szijjártó said, adding that the virus could rearrange the geopolitical pecking order.

The pandemic will lead countries to search for new opportunities, Szijjártó said, adding that this was “the start of a new race”.

Photo: Zsolt Burger, Finance Ministry