High Turnout For Nationwide Covid-19 Screening In Hungary
- 21 May 2020 9:54 AM
- Hungary Matters
Fully 67.7% of those enlisted have participated in a nationwide representative testing for the novel coronavirus, a high turnout in European comparison, Béla Merkely, the rector of the Semmelweis University leading the testing, said.
Fully 18,000 people have been asked to submit to a PCR test, used to detect the virus in the mucus membrane of the nose and throat, Merkely said. Campaigns of similar sizes had been conducted in Iceland and Slovenia, with turnouts of 36% and 46% respectively, he said.
The results will help researchers to gain a realistic picture of the situation in Hungary, he said, and thanked the participants for cooperating. An extremely low number of Hungarians seem to have contracted the coronavirus, Merkely said, adding that the final results are yet to come out.
The number of infections is expected to be between 30,000 and 80,000, some 0.6-0.7% of the population, he said.
MTI Photo: Csaba Bús
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