Government cancels March 15 state celebrations over coronavirus concerns

Hungary’s government has decided to cancel next week’s state celebrations of the March 15 national holiday because of the new coronavirus, at the recommendation of the operative board overseeing the response to the virus, the Government Information Office said on Saturday.

Though Hungary so far has only identified individual coronavirus cases and there are no major centres of infection, the state commemoration of the 1848 revolution held in the garden of the National Museum would attract people from all parts of the country, the statement said.

“Therefore the government has decided to accept the operative board’s recommendation and will cancel the March 15 celebration at the Museum Garden for security reasons,” it added.

Local commemoration events will be decided on by the local organisers, the centre said.

Two cities in the provinces followed suit, with Szeged, in the south, and Székesfehérvár, in the west, cancelling celebrations of the national holiday.

Soon after the government’s cancelling of the celebrations, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony also announced that a March 15 event planned for City Hall would be cancelled.

“Nothing is more important than the safety and health of Budapest residents,” the mayor said on Facebook. He said he hoped the virus hazard could soon be eliminated and “our cancelled reunion could be made up for”.

Meanwhile, the opposition Momentum Movement announced on Facebook that the leftist Democratic Coalition, conservative Jobbik, the Socialist Party, Parbeszed, green LMP and the Liberal Party had also decided to cancel their joint March 15 event “in the interest of protecting the health of attendees”.

Earlier, Tibor Lakatos, the head of the operative board told a news conference that the board had recommended the cancellation of the state celebrations.

He also said steps have been taken to suspend the operation of Milan-Budapest and Milan-Debrecen flights.

Lakatos added that any suspected patient who fails to submit to the necessary medical procedures could face criminal charges. He said proceedings were under way against two Iranian citizens who were refusing to comply with the rules of quarantine. Lakatos said that unless they checked themselves in, they would be taken to hospital by police.

He said anyone who deliberately infects someone else could be charged with causing serious bodily harm. If their actions lead to someone’s death, they could face homicide charges, he added.