The opposition alliance of six parties has called on the government to withdraw a decree under which coronavirus vaccines can be granted a licence for use in Hungary without approval from the National Medicines and Food Health Institute.
Fully 61 Covid patients, generally elderly and suffering from an underlying illness, died over the past 24 hours, while 1,307 new infections were officially registered, bringing the total number of infected to 367,586, koronavirus.gov.hu said on Sunday.
The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) party said the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm had been approved by the Hungarian authorities under political duress.
Hungary on Friday became the first European country to administer a dose of US drugmaker Eli Lilly’s Covid-19 antibody drug bamlanivimab to a coronavirus patient, the human resources minister said.
A couple of hundred people gathered at Budapest’s Heroes’ Square to demonstrate against coronavirus-related restrictions affecting businesses on Sunday afternoon. Most demonstrators at the event organised on Facebook were wearing masks.
Electric buses will replace the former diesel vehicles from 1st February in local public transport in Paks.
Speaking before the Hungarian authorities issued a licence for the Sinopharm jab, Orbán said Hungary’s vaccination campaign was progressing well, with the inoculation of health-care staff already completed.
The National Medicines and Food Health Institute (OGYÉI) has granted a licence for the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to be used in Hungary, the chief medical officer said on Friday.
The prime minister said that without the Chinese vaccine, 880,000 people would be vaccinated by the beginning of March, but that figure would double with the Chinese jab.
South Korean company SK Innovation is bringing to Hungary a new 2.3 billion US dollar battery plant in what will be the country’s biggest ever greenfield investment, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said.
