PM Orbán: 4 Million Shots by Early May
The number of Hungarians who have received their first vaccine shot will have reached 4 million by early May, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview on Friday. The government still insists that restrictions can only slow down the spread of the virus, and only mass vaccination can help overcome the epidemic.
“We have been living under warlike conditions” for a year, under conditions that people knew only from their grandparents’ stories and films, Orbán told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio.
Orbán noted that the British coronavirus variant was more aggressive and destructive than the variant that had spread during the first wave of the pandemic. During the first wave, lockdowns and isolation were enough to rid the country of the epidemic for two to three months, he said. But the British variant was different, he added, and lockdowns could only slow down its transmission, while only vaccines could get rid of it.
There is a chance that the Euro 2021 matches Hungary hosts will be played in front of 67,000 fans, sports daily
Nemzeti Sportsurmises, based on the Hungarian Football Association’s announcement that it wants as many people in the stadiums as possible.
This week, all 12 host cities, including Budapest, submitted their ideas and plans for the European Football Championship which are scheduled for this summer after it was postponed last year due to the pandemic. Prior to this, the UEFA emphasized that only those cities which can guarantee admission to a certain number of spectators into the stadium could host.
According to tournament director, Martin Kallen, there are huge differences in the extent to which each host city wants to utilize their stadium capacity, but he did not reveal how many spectators each venue is counting on.