On Friday, the government’s official coronavirus website reported 166 daily deaths, 6,884 new infections and 6,939 virus patients being treated in hospitals, 573 of whom were on ventilators.
“There’s a lot we don’t know,” Szurovecz said. “If there was more detailed data, people would be better able to judge how severe the pandemic is and how dangerous the virus is. ... Doctors from different parts of the country would be better able to compare their results and care could be improved.” Experts and journalists have requested regional and municipal breakdowns of infections, deaths and vaccination rates, along with information from individual hospitals on how many patients are in ICUs and how many have been vaccinated and with which vaccines.
Hungary’s government defended its data practices, saying in an email that it was “setting an example by communicating on a daily basis epidemiological data.” Similar problems were reported earlier in the pandemic in the Czech Republic, where mayors said they lacked details about the numbers of infected people in their communities that harmed mitigation efforts like distributing personal protective equipment.
After the government denied a freedom of information request earlier this year, news site 444.hu filed a lawsuit to get detailed figures on daily hospitalizations, deaths and the number of those treated in hospital ICUs during previous surges.Scott Griffen, deputy director of the Austria-based International Press Institute, said that his group “continues to condemn the Hungarian government’s efforts to block media access to information on the pandemic.
Look no further
_Europe This is what real journalists do, not propagate distractions & run PR cover on behalf of pols & their communications contractors.
Omicron is the best booster! We should hold Omicron parties and let it rip!