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BUDAPEST, March 16 (Reuters) - Hungary's COVID-19 cases are
expected to rise further in the weeks ahead, Surgeon General
Cecilia Muller said on Tuesday, as doctors warned the local
health system was entering its most critical period for half a
century.
The Hungarian Medical Chamber said in a statement that the
pandemic situation was "critical" and the healthcare system
could reach its limits any time.
As of Tuesday, Hungary had reported 529,122 cases and 17,226
deaths from COVID-19. More than 1,000 people are on ventilators,
straining hospitals.
Muller told an online briefing that some hospitals had to
involve additional departments in treating COVID-19 patients
because of a recent surge in new cases.
"All of our epidemiological figures are unfolding
unfavourably," Muller said. Budapest's main COVID-19 hospital,
the Del-Pesti Centrum Hospital, has declined to give an
interview to Reuters.
Earlier this month, about 4,000 medical workers quit the
public health system over reforms begun by Prime Minister Viktor
Orban's government, aggravating a years-long shortage of medical
staff during the third wave of the pandemic.
Muller said Hungary would follow the advice of the World
Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency over
AstraZeneca's vaccine. Some European Union member states
have stopped administering the shot because of concern over
possible side effects.
She said evidence so far has shown that the benefits of
getting the vaccine outweigh any possible drawbacks, such as the
formation of blood clots, itself a symptom of COVID-19.
Hungary, which has a population of 10 million, has
inoculated 1.35 million people so far. Muller said vaccinations
would continue with additional doses of Chinese Sinopharm's and
Russia's Sputnik V shots after local health regulators gave
clearance to the vaccines.
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves; editing by
Larry King)
