In April, elderly patients were transferred between two Hungarian hospitals without testing. Thus, Covid-19 got into another institution.

While the conditions in nursing homes for elderly have become the number one political issue in Hungary, there has been little talk of homes for the disabled and psychiatric patients, or the social workers who provide care to them. Their problems are almost invisible.

While in the past ten years the government seemed to operate with almost military-style discipline, the last few weeks brought several U-turns from the Orbán administration. Here’s what happened behind the scenes.

Hungarian paramedics are still using tests whose exports were suspended in April. This week, China again loosened export requirements, and it seems that the Hungarian government also managed to find a reliable supplier.

For Hungarians living in deep poverty, the world has turned upside down since the coronavirus lockdown. Although poor rural communities have not yet seen a breakout but most jobs are gone and with no savings and barely enough food left, people cannot afford to buy even disinfectants. So far, the government has failed to take action, leaving thousands of starving families without help.

Tons of medical masks and other personal protective equipment are arriving to Hungary almost every day. One of the big winners of the state orders is a little-known Chinese-Hungarian company with family ties to the ministry that handled the procurements.

Hungary saw great business opportunities in Iran and the Orban government tried to strenghten relations through university scholarships and residence permits. Then the course of world politics and the coronavirus changed everything.

Socialist governments crippled the network of state laboratories, Fidesz cut the epidemiologists’ central institution into pieces before trying to reverse the restructuring. Hungarian epidemiology struggles with the pandemic in a weakened state.