BUDAPEST, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The government of Hungary has decided to extend until May 1 the validity of the official COVID immunity certificate for people who have already received two vaccine doses, Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Minister's Office, said in a press conference here on Thursday.
The original measure tied the validity of the certificate to a booster shot, or to two shots administered within six months.
Gulyas said that the government was following "the current practice" of the European Union (EU): "Neither Brussels nor the EU member states have tightened the existing travel regulations due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, and the government does not want Hungarians to be subjected to stricter rules than other EU citizens."
The decision comes at a time when the fifth wave of the pandemic is peaking in Hungary. "Although the virus is spreading much faster in the fifth wave, neither the number of hospitalizations nor the number of deaths is even close to that of previous waves," Gulyas said.
Virus expert Miklos Rusvai has confirmed to Xinhua that the Omicron coronavirus variant -- especially its "sneaky" BA.2 sub-variant -- is spreading much faster but is less deadly than all previous variants, which helps the population obtain immunity without much cost to the health system.
"We see that the number of people needing hospital care or ventilators is much smaller than during the previous waves," he told Xinhua.
Hungary on Thursday reported 17,894 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour span, raising the national total to 1,600,411.
In the past 24 hours, 88 people have died from the disease, taking the toll to 41,636 in the country, while 1,330,876 people have recovered. Currently, 4,451 patients are being treated in hospitals, including 163 on ventilators, the government's coronavirus information website said.
As of Wednesday, 6,366,402 people had received at least the first shot of a vaccine, 6,107,843 people had two jabs, and 3,700,305 people got their booster shot, according to the website. ■
