Coronavirus – Mayor requests Budapest infection stats from chief medical officer

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony has sent an email to the chief medical officer, Cecília Müller, requesting data on registered coronavirus cases in the city, along with the number and results of virus tests.

In the email posted on his Facebook page, Karácsony said

Budapest should be reopened gradually and cautiously, taking into consideration the epidemic’s trajectory.

With this in mind, the municipal leadership has asked for data concerning the number of tests in Budapest since the beginning of the outbreak, containing the patient’s age and information on whether they contracted Covid-19 in hospital or elsewhere in the city. He also asked for the coronavirus research task force’s epidemic analysis as well as its forecasts regarding a potential second wave.

Karácsony also asked about a letter signed by Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler and Müller instructing the authorities to transfer all coronavirus patients in the country to two hospitals in Budapest. Karácsony asked whether that measure was prompted by health-care-related infections in hospitals outside Budapest.

It is important to clarify whether those patients appear in the statistics as Budapest residents, he said.