Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visited Budapest’s University of Technology on Friday to be briefed about the possibilities of manufacturing pulmonary ventilators in Hungary, and to see a prototype of the device in question.
According to MTI, professors of the university briefed the prime minister, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér and other officials on the concept and development of the device. Mass production is soon to start.
On Sunday, PM Orbán also inspected the Magyar Imre Hospital in Ajka, central Hungary, designated to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus. The hospital has been upgraded to receive up to 86 patients in need of intensive care, from the original six ICU beds.
In a video the prime minister posted on his Facebook page, PM Orbán noted that one-seventh of all confirmed coronavirus patients have been recorded in a care home run by the Budapest municipality. He said Hungary has 1,100 homes for the elderly nationwide, and the country will have to prepare for the disease emerging in all of them.
PM Orbán also said a recent government order to free 60 percent of beds in every hospital a “dress rehearsal for the worst-case scenario”, adding that hospitals have to be prepared to receive all COVID-19 patients even if “bad comes to worst”. “Everybody can rest assured that all who become ill will have a bed in a hospital,” PM Orbán said.
A call center set up for advice on the coronavirus can be reached on +36-80-277-455 and +36-80-277-456 or by email koronavirus@bm.gov.hu