March 13, 2021

Europe's third wave: Even the country with the highest vaccination rate cannot hold back the tide

The Telegraph
Matthew Day
Sat, March 13, 2021, 11:12 AM

(COVID-wise, Europe is historically about 2 weeks ahead of the US of A.. Watch out !! My comment)

It’s an unwelcome paradox for Hungary. Medics have dispensed over a million vaccinations, and the country now only trails Malta in the EU when it comes to vaccinations per capita, but all this has failed to prevent Hungary suffering from a crippling third Covid-19 wave, with Hungarians testing positive in record numbers.

Hungary’s health authorities reported on Friday a new daily high of 9,011 positive tests, while another 130 deaths brought the country’s Covid-19 toll to 16,627. On the same day the number of Covid patients in hospital rose by 389 to reach 8,718.

The country now has the third highest Covid-19 fatality rate in the world, and is fourth place globally in deaths per capita, according to information from the John Hopkins University.

All this despite Hungary using Russia’s Sputnik V and the Chinese Sinopharm vaccines to help drive the vaccination rate up to 13.2 doses per 100 people, far better than the EU average of 9.1.

Tamas Sved, secretary of the Hungarian Medical Chamber, has said that the country’s health system “is almost at capacity”, not through a lack of bed and ventilators but through a lack of the specialist staff needed to keep the seriously ill alive.

Hungary’s media is now reporting that hospital doctors are having to decide who lives, and who dies.