Zoltán Kovács

At the time Hungary started using Sinopharm's vaccine to immunize the elderly, there was no way to know how effective or safe it was. Since then, WHO approved the Chinese jab, and Orbán seems to have scored an important communications goal against the opposition – but was he right, or was he lucky?

The third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, characterized by the Kent variant, tore through Hungary much quicker and deadlier than what we saw during the previous two. Here are the similarities and differences of the three waves, charted.

This is the second year Covid-19 forces the organisers of the largest Hungarian festival to cancel the event.

We sat down for an interview with Katalin Karikó, probably the most famous living Hungarian scientist, a likely Nobel laureate, and the mind behind the mRNA technology used by Pfizer and Moderna for their Covid-19 vaccines.

3 May is World Press Freedom Day, but the press is only as free as much it is allowed to report; here are the walls constantly hit by independent journalists in Hungary.

Hungarian civic organizations have launched their campaign titled "Vaccines for Life" to get people living in disadvantaged, segregated communities to sign up for the coronavirus vaccine. We took a look at how it went in Miskolc and the surrounding small towns.

Harvesting the official mortality data revealed that general health in Hungary is terrible and that the data provided by hospitals is far from standardized. Infographics about the first 25,000 coronavirus-related deaths in Hungary.

The construction of the Budapest campus of the Shanghai-based Fudan University has upset Hungarian domestic politics. The opposition-led Budapest is trying to oppose the project, but the Hungarian government seems relentless.

Reporters Without Borders warns that the Hungarian government's expanding hegemony over the media could inspire other European countries such as Poland or Slovenia.

Antal Rogán used to be a darling of pro-government tabloids, but ever since his new wife's real estate scandal, the Hungarian cabinet minister has vanished from the radar. We tried to get in touch with him for over two months, to no avail; In the end, we had to ask other prominent members of the governing party about what Orbán's most indispensable cabinet member is really doing.

Covid-19 has not spared disadvantaged communities, there were villages where everyone was infected at some point or another. Despite the danger, vaccine refusal is high due to fake news and misinformation spreading faster than the virus itself.

After taking the first step in Hungary's gradual reopening plan on Wednesday, the government now plans to ease restrictions even further, although the Hungarian Medical Chamber advises against a premature reopening.

An influential Hungarian diplomat caused an accident while driving drunk in Vienna. His children were in the back, and he refused the evidentiary breathalyser. However, the incident had no consequences in Austria or Hungary.

Petra Tóth's mother died of complications arising from COVID-19 in little under a week. Tamás Busák spent 44 days in the hospital, and he was on a ventilator for 17. Barbara Balás is one of the few women who were pregnant at the time of contracting the coronavirus, and she had to undergo a C-section prematurely. Hungarians whose lives were affected by the coronavirus told us about their experiences.

We discovered that the Hungarian Prime Minister's son has just graduated from one of the top military academies in the world and the roughly €100,000 training fee was paid by the Ministry of Defence. When we inquired about this at the government's weekly press conference, the spokesperson changed our question, removing any mention of Gáspár Orbán.

A recession of historic proportions, a significant loss of popularity, rule of law mechanism, a hostile US administration, a new German chancellor, and an opposition challenger – the Hungarian Prime Minister will have to face a number of difficulties this year, and he has work to do within his own party as well.

Here comes Telexikon, Telex’s infovideo-series. In the first episode, we present the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the world economy, show why this is a peculiar crisis and what long-term effects the pandemic can have on economic practices.

The Minister for the Families is right: We are smaller, our upkeep is lower.

"Do not believe that every waking moment of our lives must be spent with comparing ourselves to men and that we should work in at least the same position, for at least the same pay they do,” Katalin Novák explained.

Bloomberg reports that Poland, Hungary, and current EU President Germany have reached a deal on the budget veto: A legally binding addendum to the rule of law mechanism will clarify how the regulation would be applied. The draft text is not yet public, but it looks like the EU could have a budget by Friday.

Even though the German EU Affairs Minister says negotiations cannot be reopened and the rule of law conditionality must be implemented as soon as possible, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was optimistic after a surprise meeting with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.

In a letter to Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP Group, Viktor Orbán suggests a new type of cooperation between Fidesz and the political family, one in which Fidesz is effectively no longer a member.

The measures announced in November will remain in effect until 11 November, New Year's Eve is definitely cancelled, but Christmas is still up in the air.

30 members of the EPP Group want the MEP of Hungarian governing party excluded over his comments comparing group leader Manfred Weber to the Gestapo.

Following his scandal, MEP József Szájer had left his party behind while Hungarian PM described his actions as "unacceptable and inexcusable." Here is our summary of what happened since the start of the scandal.

At Wednesday's cabinet meeting, we tried to ask members of the Hungarian Government about the sex scandal of MEP József Szájer and its effects on EU policy, but we were stopped by police.

The MEP was allegedly found climbing down the gutter while trying to flee from a police raid on a sex party that violated lockdown measures.

Even though it is standard practice in the international press to report from hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hungarian healthcare system does not allow journalists or photographers beyond the gates, and Telex gets no answers at all from the government's coronavirus task force.