Hungary registers record number of Covid-19 cases

Hungary has registered 365 new coronavirus cases, its highest daily tally on record, as people return from summer holidays and the school year starts up.

Hungary, with a population of around 10 million, weathered the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year with fewer infections than many European countries. The total number of cases, as of Wednesday, stood at 6,622, with 619 deaths.

But even as most people with the disease have recovered, the number of active cases has risen over the past week or so from the hundreds to 2,100 on Wednesday, and experts have warned of a spike in infections in coming weeks as schools reopen.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has closed borders to foreign visitors, though it has exempted citizens of three neighbouring central European nations – the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia – from the ban, provided they test negative for the virus beforehand.

The European Union, which insists on uniform rules for all EU citizens crossing internal borders, has said the move is discriminatory and therefore illegal.