Hungary is also in the most serious epidemiological category on the latest map of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. In Austria, a decree issued by the government on Monday will expire ten days, and from February 1, vaccination against the coronavirus will be mandatory. In Slovakia, healthcare is on the verge of collapse. Unvaccinated people are banned from all non-essential business. In the Czech Republic, unvaccinated people are not allowed to go to mass events, restaurants or hotels without a negative test. Bavaria is also being introduced to those who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

In the last 24 hours, 11,289 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, a new record in domestic numbers, surpassing the daily data recorded at the peak of the third wave in March. 135 patients died from the complications of the disease. 6,122 patients with coronavirus are being hospitalized, 613 of whom are on ventilators.

The head of government expects rising numbers in the 4th wave of the coronavirus epidemic. Viktor Orbán said in a morning radio interview that protection measures will not prevent the spread of the infection, it will only slow down the epidemic. He added that it will soon be possible to vaccinate children between the ages of 5 and 12. The prime minister also said he said there was more than 80 percent support for freezing fuel prices. Viktor Orbán said that so far the market has been left to regulate the price of petrol, but due to the drastic price increase, action had to be taken. Regarding the overhead reduction, he said, there is price regulation for the government of universal services. They are now analyzing how much this energy providers will lose if they are given the opportunity to do so, and whether they will be able to bear that loss.

The financial and administrative hurdle has also been removed, and the capital has received HUF 10 billion in government support for health promotion. Balázs Fürjes, Secretary of State for the Development of Budapest, and Kiss Ambrus, Deputy Mayor General, reviewed the Healthy Budapest Program. According to the agreement between the city government and the government, the state will support the health developments of the Budapest districts with HUF 10 billion in 2020–2024, for a total of HUF 50 billion.

Preparations for the implementation of the Hungarian space strategy have begun, the main goal of which is to send a Hungarian research astronaut to the International Space Station in the middle of the decade, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in Porto. At the ministerial meeting of the European Space Agency, Péter Szijjártó reported that the process of the Hungarian astronaut case had already begun within the framework of the first national space strategy adopted this year. As part of the strategy, preparations have begun for the launch of a Hungarian telecommunications satellite into orbit around the Earth.

Domestic and cross-border book publishers are eligible for support for digitization, multimedia, or audiobook programs. The budget of the tender announced by the Petőfi Cultural Agency is HUF 150 million, of which each applicant requires between HUF 1 million and HUF 5 million. The application can be submitted until November 29.

The Budapest Advent and Christmas Fair has opened in Vörösmarty Square. Among the cordons of the fair, the event can only be visited by presenting a security certificate. The Advent Fair awaits visitors until 31 December in Vörösmarty Square.

The Country Christmas Tree will be erected on Kossuth Square on November 22nd. This year, the choice fell on an 18-meter-high silver pine tree, which decorated the garden of a family house in Veszprém County. The Christmas tree of the country decorates the Kossuth Square from Advent to the day of the Epiphany, and then the Office of the Parliament offers the demolition of the wood – as firewood – to those in need.

George Schöpflin died. A professor of political history in Eastern and Central Europe at the University of Economics in London, he was born in Budapest in November 1939, left the country with his family in 1950 and emigrated to Britain. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Glasgow and was a BBC journalist from 1967 to 1976. He was a Fidesz Member of the European Parliament for fifteen years, from 2004 to 2019. György Schöpflin would have turned 83 in five days.