Coronavirus – Epidemic action unit to isolate clusters in Hungary

A special epidemic action unit investigating coronavirus clusters will be isolating any groups that may be infected in order to prevent the virus from spreading further, a spokesman for the operative board coordinating Hungary’s response to the novel coronavirus epidemic said on Friday.

The first phase of protection against the epidemic has been successfully completed but the threat of the epidemic has not been eliminated and that’s why a new special epidemic action unit has been set up, Robert Kiss told a press conference.

The unit will be tasked with coordinating the work of cooperating authorities including the army, the disaster management authority, the medical officer service and the ambulance services and to ensure that resources are used most efficiently, he added.

The unit will have the authority to order restrictive measures, he said.

Department head of the national disaster management directorate Péter Jackovics said a mobile lab operated by the disaster management authority will be made available to the new unit.

Medical director of the national ambulance service György Pápai said they had been involved in screening travellers at border crossings ever since the start of the epidemic and had taken 60,000 samples from members of the public. The ambulance services are also involved in transporting patients suspected of carrying the virus.