Hungary has closed its borders to foreigners to prevent the so-called second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping across Europe.

At the same time, its schools are reopening after the summer break, but some parents and teachers are nervous, saying the government is not providing adequate support.

Students arriving at MOA Magan school in Budapest's third district were met with a temperature check from a teacher on their first day back after the summer break. MOA Magan is a private school in Budapest, and had purchased its own thermometers and disinfectant in preparation for schooling in the COVID-19 era.

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But at Hungarian public schools, some teachers feel uneasy about returning to work. They say there are certain conditions that have not been met by the government in order for schools to safely reopen.

"If the government provided COVID-19 testing, yes, but they didn't, if they gave the schools masks, yes, but they didn't," teacher Agnes Ravasz says. "Even disinfectants are expected to arrive later this week, and there is a severe shortage of janitors, too. All these problems should have been addressed."

Schools have received a document from the government that provides guidelines for safely reopening, but the teachers' union says the advice is vague, and it's left up to schools to shoulder the responsibility of preventing an outbreak.

"There are schools where the teachers did the cleaning and disinfecting and in some schools parents were asked to send in disinfectants," Ravasz says.
Ravasz says teachers want to return to work, but the government should be ensuring they have safe working conditions.

"There is a need from the parents' side to reopen the schools: they have no more holidays for the year, they took them all during the lockdown," she says. "A lot of families are facing serious problems now."

As students returned to their desks, Hungary closed its borders to the outside world after cases skyrocketed in the past week. On Sunday a daily increase of 292 cases was recorded – the highest 24-hour increase since the outbreak began.

"We have to reduce the risk of the virus being carried into Hungarian territory in the first place. Thus, we'll put strict border control measures in place," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted on his official Facebook page.

However, the total ban on foreigners was quickly revised on Monday to allow entry to Polish, Czech and Slovak nationals, who must have had a negative virus test within the last five days. Hungary says these countries have cooperated closely in the fight against the virus.

And as the end of summer draws near, the government is advising Hungarians against any overseas travel. Hungarians returning to Hungary must either quarantine for 14 days or produce two negative test results after they arrive in the country – these cost between $90 and $110.

In March, Hungary was one of the first countries to shut its borders – a move that was later partly used to explain its relatively low confirmed case numbers. The government is hoping this latest closure will yield the same result.