Tag Archives: Hungary

Lawmakers on Monday passed a bill aimed at extending a state of emergency and granting the government special powers to take extraordinary measures to contain the spread of novel coronavirus. Among the measures, flouting quarantine regulations is punishable by up to three years in prison. Also, anyone who disseminates fake news or …

The Hungarian government has appealed to the European Commission to grant VAT exemption for imports of face masks, respirators and other equipment of protection against the novel coronavirus, State Secretary Norbert Izer told MTI on Thursday. Izer added that the exemption would only apply to appliances to be distributed free of charge. …

In the wake of the news about the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Hungarian sportsmen in general accepted and acknowledged the decision, many of them were however unable to hide their disappointment, given the prolongation and uncertainty of preparations.  To this date, Hungarian sportsmen …

The first complete Hungarian coronavirus genome has been successfully sequenced by the Virological Research Group of the Szentágothai Research Center at the University of Pécs and the Bio-informatics Research Group. Virologist Ferenc Jakab, leader of the Szentágothai Research Center, emphasized that this is an important milestone for further Hungarian and international …

The number of novel coronavirus related deaths has increased to seven in Hungary as an old man died, the government’s info website koronavirus.gov.hu said on Monday morning. The site also reported that the number of patients recovered from the illness has increased to 16. The number of people diagnosed and confirmed with …

Over the weekend, 1,469 Hungarians worldwide, who have been stranded due to the new coronavirus epidemic, started their journey home with government help, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Sunday. The government has set up ten action groups to handle the response to the epidemic, one of them focusing on helping Hungarians stranded abroad. …

Airlines Emirates and Wizz Air are suspending their Budapest-Dubai flights. Emirates said on Thursday that it is cancelling its Boeing 777 flights on March 21 and 22, and then between March 24 and May 20. Passengers are being offered an opportunity to re-book their flights or obtain a refund. Wizz Air is …

The government has decided to suspend until the end of the year the capital and interest rate payment obligations of both private individuals and businesses under effective loan agreements, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announcedon his Facebook page on Wednesday. The government has also decided to extend short term business loans until …

Due to the spread of the coronavirus, and the decreased sales and uncertainty in car parts supplies, the Volkswagen Group will suspend production at most of its plants, including its plant in Győr as well. Audi has confirmed, that in addition to its plants in Ingolstadt, Brussels, and Mexico, their factory …

Yesterday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that Hungary will close its borders for all passenger transport. The measure is effective from midnight until further notice. Although the borders will be closed, Hungarian citizens and their family members can enter the country and Liszt Ferenc International Airport remains open as well.  The …

The outbreak of the new coronavirus in Hungary has entered its next stage, going from isolated cases to clusters, chief medical officer Cecília Müller said on Monday. The cases identified in the country so far were either individual ones or within smaller communities, she told a press conference after a meeting of …

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony has called for “braver measures” to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Restrictive measures implemented so far to contain the epidemic have been “insufficient”, Gergely Karácsony said in a video message on Facebook on Monday. “What we see if we look at Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and other countries …

While Hungarian universities have been ordered to close, the closure of schools is still not on the agenda. Although teachers’ unions urge for the closure, the government insists that the disease tends to evade children, which makes school closures unnecessary for now. A decree issued on Wednesday explicitly banned school …

Hungary’s parliamentary parties have unanimously suggested that schools should be closed down on Monday in view of the new coronavirus spreading, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a press conference, adding that the government was likely to pass a decision within one day. Gergely Gulyás said that the number of …

Hungary’s government information website koronavirus.gov.hu on Thursday confirmed another three cases of the new coronavirus, bringing the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country to 16. Two of the new virus cases are Hungarian citizens and the third an Iranian national, the website said. One of the Hungarians is a …

Hungary’s government has decided to cancel next week’s state celebrations of the March 15 national holiday because of the new coronavirus, at the recommendation of the operative board overseeing the response to the virus, the Government Information Office said on Saturday. Though Hungary so far has only identified individual coronavirus …

A 70-year-old Hungarian man with underlying health conditions was identified as the fifth coronavirus patient in Hungary. Although there were previous cases of the disease in Hungary, they were all foreigners – three Iranian and a British citizen. The elderly man with severe illness was diagnosed earlier today and currently …

Since residents made preparations earlier, the appearance of the coronavirus in Hungary hasn’t resulted in major problems in trade, pro-gov’t daily Magyar Nemzet wrote, in reference to the report of the Hungarian Trade Association (OKSZ). According to wire service MTI’s summary, the numbers of shoppers on Thursday wasn’t at all as high as in …

Two people in Hungary have been infected with coronavirus, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Wednesday. “We have our first coronavirus case, in fact there are already two patients who have had to be taken to a medical facility due to coronavirus infection,” Orbán said in a video posted on Facebook after a …

Buda was full of festive decorations, shining in floodlight on that special day in 1790. Everybody was so excited – the entire leadership of the city lined up at the gates of Vienna, in full regalia; greeting the return of the Holy Crown with a string of fire. Joseph II …

Two female students, an American and an Ecuadorian, who have been tested positive for coronavirus in Prague, had recently visited Budapest. They both study in Milan and travelled on Feb. 24 from northern Italy to Vienna where they stayed in a hotel. They then continued their journey to Budapest, director …

The 2022 Europa League final will be held in Budapest’s Puskás Arena, UEFA announced on Monday. The UEFA executive committee’s landmark decision means Hungary gets to host its first-ever single-match final of a men’s international cup tournament. The 2022 Europa League final will be held either on May 18 or …

The government is still not aware of any cases of the new virus being present in Hungary, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the prime minister’s office, told a press conference on Wednesday. Gulyás noted coronavirus is spreading in Europe, adding that there was little chance Hungary could avoid COVID-19. He said the …

In an interview with Hungarian news portal 24.hu, David B. Cornstein, US Ambassador to Hungary, discussed his views of how the Hungarian government stands up against antisemitism, loosening ties with Russia, and that the Soros-Orbán contradiction is actually based on a personal conflict. Cornstein, whose maternal grandparents emigrated from Hungary, said …

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called it “unacceptable” that four EU member states – Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden – rejected European Council President Charles Michel’s proposal for each member contributing 1.074 percent of their gross national income (GNI) to the EU budget running from 2021 to 2027, and insisted that their …

The government aims to put a stop to the “prison business” which has grown into a billion-forint “industry”, Justice Minister Judit Varga said in parliament on Thursday, at a plenary debate over compensation payments for poor prison conditions in Hungary. The bill proposes suspending the payments with immediate effect until June 15, when the …

In January, the number of Hungarians applying for settled status in the United Kingdom due to Brexit reached a milestone. With more than 9,000 new applications, the number of those applied surpassed 88,000, which means that by now more people have requested settled status than those whom the Office for National …

After forint hit an all-time low last week, it managed to firm to a new four-week high on Monday, hovering around 334.5. As we previously reported, the Hungarian currency reached a new record low against the Euro on Wednesday, falling below the 340 mark. The trend has stopped since then and the HUF moderately strengthened …

“The facts show that the last ten years were the most successful ten years in Hungary’s last 100 years,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his state-of-the-nation address on Sunday. Orbán: Hungary ‘still here’ 100 years after WWI Trianon Peace Treaty One hundred years after the “death sentence” that was the WWI …

The Hungarian spa town of Hévíz, home to Europe’s largest thermal lake, has been voted twelfth best place to visit in this year’s European Destinations of Excellence (EDEN) ranking, the local council said on Friday. Hévíz made the list, ahead of places such as Prague and Madrid, based on a count of …