BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga announced on Tuesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild respiratory symptoms.
“As of today, I am in quarantine at home with my family, I work from home and will not attend the government meeting,” Varga said on her official Facebook page.
Varga, who holds one of the key posts in the government and frequently travels to Brussels to European Union meetings, did not say where she might have contracted the virus or whether she had met any other government officials, including Prime Minister Viktor Orban lately.
Orban’s spokesman was not immediately available.
Hungary’s coronavirus cases have risen sharply since late August as Orban sought to avoid a repeat of a spring lockdown that sent the economy crashing by 13.6% in the second quarter.
Hungarian schools are operating as normal, and apart from closing borders to foreigners, the government has not imposed significant limitations on events.
Hungary has reported a total 48,757 coronavirus cases and 1,211 deaths so far, with 989 new infections on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
