János Szlávik told news channel M1 that while the number of hospitalised patients is falling accordingly, the caseload at ICU units remains extremely high. This points to a slower decline in the number of fatalities, he said.

Currently, some 50-60% of the population is estimated to be protected from the coronavirus either through vaccination or because they have already recovered from the virus. Some 1-3 million more people still need to be inoculated for transmissions in the country to be halted, Szlávik said.

He added that the pandemic situation was at a critical juncture and he called on the public to “stand together” and ignore “false prophets”.

Hungary records 186 coronavirus fatalities, 2,584 new infections

Fully 186 patients, generally elderly with co-morbidities, died over the past 24 hours, while 2,584 new infections were registered, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Thursday.

So far  3,870,222 people have received a first jab, while 1,822,655  have been fully vaccinated.

The number of active infections stands at 245,928, while hospitals are treating 5,554 Covid patients, 662 of whom need respiratory assistance.

There are 31,133 people in official quarantine, while 5,349,792 tests have been officially carried out.

Since the first outbreak, 776,983 infections have been registered, while fatalities have risen to 27,358.

Fully 503,697 people have made a recovery.

So far, most infections have been registered in Budapest and Pest County, followed by the counties of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Győr-Moson-Sopron and Hajdú-Bihar.

Hungary to resume cancer screenings

Hungary will resume organised cancer screenings on Thursday, after putting them on hold due to the pandemic, the human resources minister has said. Hungary in recent weeks was able to overcome the most critical phase of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic while guaranteeing care for all patients, Miklós Kásler said on Facebook.

The minister underscored the importance of the Covid-19 vaccine in curbing the pandemic, encouraging the public to register for the jab.