The coronavirus epidemic is now officially a global pandemic. The government has declared a state of emergency and introduced extraordinary measures.
One of the most important measures is that we have introduced an entry ban for nationals arriving from Italy, China, South Korea and Iran; they are not allowed to enter the territory of Hungary. From 00.00 hours on March 12, 2020, we reinstated border controls at the Hungarian-Slovenian and Hungarian-Austrian borders.
At present, there are border controls at five border crossing points on the Austrian and Slovenian border sections, at Sopron, Hegyeshalom, Rábafüzes, Letenye, Rédics and Csörnyeföld.
At a press conference yesterday, Tibor Lakatos, head of the Operational Corps Duty Centre said border controls at more than forty border crossing points are now underway. Controls also extend to health screening conducted by staff members of the National Ambulance Service.
Hungarians returning from Italy are required to remain in compulsory home quarantine. Between midnight and 8 a.m., four Hungarians were ordered to subject themselves to compulsory home quarantine.
There were two Romanian nationals who were denied entry into the country because they came from Italy. There were another two South Korean citizens who were checked on the train service between Hegyeshalom and Győr; they were also redirected to Austria.
Hungary had already restricted some flights from Italy, while from zero hundred hours today no flights from Italy will be received in Hungary. One Alitalia plane landed at Ferihegy airport in Budapest today in order to take home some Italian tourists stranded here in Hungary. The crew of the plane did not leave the aircraft; they awaited passengers on board.
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 under koronavirus@bm.gov.hu.