Some of Hungary's final COVID-19 restrictions have been eased after the country reached 5 million first-dose vaccinations over the weekend. 

People no longer have to wear masks in public areas and the overnight curfew has been abolished completely, along with restrictions on opening hours for shops and other businesses.

Group sports of all levels can be played in public areas and private events can include up to 50 people, and up to 500 people can attend outdoor events.

However, music and dance events will require vaccine certificates, similar to indoor dining, hotels, leisure centers and gyms, libraries and museums, which all require a vaccine certificate for entry.

The physical vaccine certificate is a plastic card mailed out after the first dose of vaccine but an app using QR codes has been launched, with the hope that it will replace the physical card system.

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Weddings had already been given the go-ahead to take place again as of the weekend but numbers were increased following the announcement. And 200 people can attend a wedding with some restrictions on venues that cater for large events.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the changes in a social media video. He followed it up with a video showing him posing with a young couple, who were finally able to get married in the capital's castle district.

The number of first-dose vaccines given in Hungary as of Monday is 5,023,145, representing more than half of the population. More than 3 million people have had a second dose of vaccine.

Reaching the milestone of 5 million vaccines was much slower than the government's original May 10 prediction. In the past couple of weeks, the number of people being vaccinated had dropped off compared with April numbers, with hundreds of thousands of people not booking vaccine appointments. 

The drop-off coincided with the government offering people the ability to register for the Pfizer vaccine for one day only, it ran out within hours and the online booking system crashed as people tried to secure appointments. 

Since then, hundreds of thousands of new Pfizer doses have arrived. They have been used to vaccinate 16-to-18-year-olds but are now available to the general population. 

Orban previously predicted 150,000 people would be able to have the Pfizer jab each week after teens were inoculated. 

The Hungarian government has continued to encourage anyone who is unvaccinated to sign up, saying all the vaccines authorized in Hungary are safe and effective.