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Hungary will close its borders to foreigners from September 1 to curb the rise in coronavirus infections and Hungarians returning from abroad will have to go into quarantine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said today.
Gergely Gulyas said that Hungarian citizens could abandon the 14-day quarantine only if they provided two negative tests for Covid.
The exceptions to the ban on the entry of foreigners would apply to military convoys and humanitarian transit, as well as business or diplomatic trips.
The government was considering various rules on how fans could be allowed to attend the UEFA Super Cup match between Bayern Munich and Sevilla in Budapest on September 24, Gulyas added.
“The number of infections has increased … and most of them originate from abroad,” Gulyas told a news conference.
He said the restrictions were necessary to allow the school year to begin next week and protect people and the economy.
Hungary recorded 132 new infections today, the highest daily number since the peak of the pandemic. Hungary has had a total of 5,511 coronavirus cases and 614 deaths.
The nationalist Orban, who has been in power since 2010, faces one of his government’s biggest challenges as the Hungarian economy slumped by 13.6% a year in the second quarter. Hungary relaxed the lockdown measures in May.
“We would not like to reintroduce lockdown measures,” Gulyas said.
Budapest will host next month the match between Bayern, champions of the Champions League, and Sevilla, champions of the Europa League.
All the matches in the final final stages of those competitions were played behind closed doors, but the UEFA executive committee ruled that up to 30% of the 67,215 capacity at the Puskas Arena in Budapest can be carried by fans.
Gulyas said UEFA planned to give 3,000 fans of both Bayern and Sevilla access to the game. One possibility was that the fans would have to produce two negative tests at the airport, be transported directly to the stadium and back to the airport after the match.
He said the government had yet to decide on the rules and was also in talks with UEFA about it.
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