{"id":210812,"date":"2021-03-25T19:30:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/variant-sweeps-hungary-to-world-high-weekly-covid-death-rate\/"},"modified":"2021-03-25T19:30:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:30:01","slug":"variant-sweeps-hungary-to-world-high-weekly-covid-death-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/variant-sweeps-hungary-to-world-high-weekly-covid-death-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"#Variant sweeps Hungary to world-high weekly COVID death rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Variant sweeps Hungary to world-high weekly COVID death rate<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Hungary had the world’s highest COVID-19 death rate compared to population over the last week, according to AFP data on Thursday, as hospitals face unprecedented pressure from surging cases of a virus variant.\n <\/p>\n

The death toll in the EU member state with a population of just under 10 million has risen more than 41 percent during the past week and set a new daily record of 272 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The latest figures push the country’s seven-day average death rate per 100,000 inhabitants to a world-high 15.7, well ahead of the Czech Republic (12.7), Bosnia (12), Slovakia (10.5), and Bulgaria (10.5). <\/p>\n

Infections have been surging since February, when a more infectious variant of COVID-19 that was first found in England began to spread.<\/p>\n

A total of 9,637 new cases were reported Thursday, according to official data.<\/p>\n

Almost 12,000 coronavirus patients are currently being treated in hospitals, including nearly 1,500 on ventilators.<\/p>\n

Experts said the British variant now accounts for 80-90 percent of new infections and that virus-related hospital admissions are expected to peak in April.<\/p>\n

“The situation is serious but the system has sufficient capacity to handle the higher numbers,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said Thursday.<\/p>\n

“There are enough spare beds and ventilators, and also personnel,” Gulyas told a briefing, refuting a warning by the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors (MOK) earlier this week that hospitals are becoming overloaded and lack medical personnel to treat the surge in patients.<\/p>\n

A MOK official said that hospital conditions could soon resemble those reported a year ago in the Italian province of Bergamo, Europe’s first major virus flashpoint.<\/p>\n

“Operating rooms have shut down, their ventilators are occupied by COVID patients fighting for their lives,” said a MOK statement.<\/p>\n

Some 500 medical students have been authorised to help while some hospitals have also sought volunteers to assist in COVID-19 wards.<\/p>\n

While media<\/a> are not permitted to enter hospitals, healthcare workers have described overwhelmed conditions to local media.<\/p>\n

The surge comes as Hungary has the second-highest vaccination rate in the EU, thanks to its use of Chinese-made Sinopharm and Russian Sputnik V vaccines, as well as western-developed jabs delivered by Brussels.<\/p>\n

This week Budapest app<\/a>roved another two vaccines produced outside the bloc: a second Chinese jab made by CanSino, and “Covishield” the Indian-made version of the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine. <\/p>\n

Around 1.7 million people\u2014more than 18 percent of the 9.8 million population\u2014have been vaccinated, including over half a million who have received a second jab, Gulyas said Thursday. <\/p>\n

Once the vaccination rate reaches 2.5 million, or roughly a quarter of the population, schools can reopen, at the earliest April 12 or 19, he added.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Follow the latest news<\/a> on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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\n Variant sweeps Hungary to world-high weekly COVID death rate (2021, March 25)
\n retrieved 25 March 2021
\n from https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2021-03-variant-hungary-world-high-weekly-covid.html<\/p>\n

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