Hungary registers record single-day COVID-19 cases, FM tests positive in Thailand

Source: Xinhua| 2020-11-04 20:18:03|Editor: huaxia

BUDAPEST, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Hungary on Wednesday registered a record 4,219 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour span, raising the national total to 90,988, according to the government's coronavirus information website.

In the past 24 hours, 90 people, also a new high, had succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 2,063 in Hungary, while 21,232 have recovered. Currently, 4,871 patients are in hospital, including 355 on ventilators.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has tested positive for COVID-19, the press service of his office said Wednesday.

"After visiting Cambodia, the minister went on to Thailand, and he tested positive after arriving in Bangkok," Mate Paczolay, chief of the ministry's press office, told Hungarian news agency MTI.

The Hungarian government imposed a 12 midnight to 5 a.m. nationwide curfew as of midnight Tuesday and closed bars and entertainment venues to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Hungary's coronavirus cases have risen sharply since late August. The country's total COVID-19 cases topped 10,000 on Sept. 10, 50,000 on Oct. 21, and 80,000 on Nov. 2.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has pledged to procure COVID-19 vaccines, which will be made available to all citizens who want it.

Orban said his administration was engaged in talks on purchasing vaccines from China and Russia, adding that Hungary could have access to two to three different vaccines by next spring.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, many countries are racing to find a vaccine. According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Nov. 3, there were 202 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 47 of them were in clinical trials. Enditem

KEY WORDS:
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011100001394909501