(ANSA-AFP) - BUDAPEST, 18 NOV - Hungary has extended until
February a state of emergency that enables partial lockdown
measures aimed at curbing a surge in coronavirus deaths,
according to a government decree. Originally mandated to
December 11, the decree, published late Tuesday, now makes it
possible for the government to maintain the restrictions a
further two months until February 8. The measures -- including a
curfew between 8 pm and 5 am, a ban on gatherings, mandatory
mask-wearing in public, and online tuition for high schools and
universities -- were brought in as part of a state of emergency
in place since November 11. Coronavirus deaths and cases have
surged in Hungary since September, with the leading doctors'
association warning that understaffed hospitals could soon be
overwhelmed. Seven-day rolling average data from the European
Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) show that by Wednesday Hungary
had the fourth-highest Covid-19 death rate per million in the
bloc -- behind the Czech Republic, Belgium, and Bulgaria. Over
4,200 new infections were recorded in the 9.8-million-population
country Wednesday, with 7,499 coronavirus patients in hospital
including 581 on ventilators. (ANSA-AFP).
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