Hungarian Chief Medical Officer Cecília Müller issued a normative order on Thursday night containing provisions concerning the entry ban, university closures, and a humanitarian corridor for transit passengers. The normative decision mostly serves to replace expiring government decrees, but there are some minor changes.

The document bans all trains, buses, and civilian aircraft in passenger traffic from entering Hungary, with the exception of aircraft flying through Hungarian airspace without landing.

All non-Hungarian nationals are banned from entering the country, with the following exceptions:

• As per intergovernmental agreements, citizens of neighbouring countries are allowed to cross Hungary through a humanitarian corridor in set times, provided that they undergo medical examinations upon entry and they are not suspected to have COVID-19. 
• In "exceptional circumstances," foreigners can request to be exempted from the entry ban by the Public Order Director of the Hungarian Police Headquarters, with similar restrictions: Entrance is only possible if there is no suspicion of coronavirus, and the applicant agrees to 14 days of compulsory home quarantine. People entering in this manner will be registered by the authorities.
• Citizens of EEA countries permanently residing in Hungary are subject to the same rules as Hungarian citizens.

Hungarian citizens entering the country must also undergo a medical examination, and will be quarantined if they are suspected to carry the virus. If the initial medical examination clears them, they will still be ordered to compulsory home quarantine, unless they have no official residence in Hungary - in that case, they will be isolated at the designated quarantine locations.

They must also undergo medical examinations, and if COVID-19 is not suspected,

• Hungarian citizens with destinations in Hungary will be ordered to a 14-day compulsory home-quarantine,
• Foreigners must leave the country within 24 hours after dropping their cargo,
• Transiting freight traffic must leave the country in the shortest possible time using the designated, shortest possible route,
• Freighters entering Hungary must wear protective masks and rubber gloves while in the country.

If suspected to be infected, foreign freighters must be turned away at the border and Hungarian citizens must be isolated at a designated quarantine location.

The Chief Medical Officer's normative decision also bans students from visiting universities, extending the soon-to-expire ban issued by the government nearly two weeks ago. Find out more about why these bans would be expiring here and here. 

For our complete English coverage of the epidemiological situation in Hungary, see our file:

(Cover: Cars lining up at the Hungarian border near Nickelsdorf, Austria on 17 March 2020.  Christian Bruna / EPA / MTI)