Hungary opposition leader tests positive for COVID-19

BUDPAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The leader of Hungary's political opposition said Wednesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 amid a surge in cases fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

Peter Marki-Zay, an independent conservative who will represent a six-party opposition coalition in the parliamentary election in April, said on his Facebook page that he had received a positive test after exhibiting mild COVID-19 symptoms following a television appearance Tuesday evening.

“I have canceled all external programs, gone into quarantine and am continuing to work from home, working for a change of government,” Marki-Zay wrote, adding that he has received three vaccine doses.

Omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, according to studies. Omicron spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more easily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus.

Marki-Zay's announcement came on the same day that Hungary reported the highest number of daily cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, part of an exponential surge in the Central European country likely caused by omicron.

According to the government's official coronavirus website, 14,890 new cases were detected on Wednesday, nearly double the figure from a week earlier and outpacing the previous high set in November by more than 2,000 cases.

Last week, the private laboratory that first identified the variant in Hungary, Neumann Labs, told news site Telex that 90% of positive COVID-19 samples it takes are caused by omicron.

The true number of infections in Hungary in likely much higher than reported figures. Nearly 58% of COVID-19 tests...