Журнал. World association for medical law. The COVID-19 pandemic. Volume 39 2

193 Medicine and Law Second Phase: The “State of Danger” Declared The first measures implemented by the government involved a fourteen-day quarantine for those who returned to Hungary from Italy and China, and later from Iran. In the beginning the quarantine was based on voluntary compliance. Then on March 4 the first case of coronavirus infection was reported: it was an Iranian pharmacology student at Semmelweis Medical University, who had returned from Iran on February 22. 5 Shortly after this the government cancelled its official ceremony for March 15, an important national holiday. Government Decree No. 46/2020 (March 16) introduced restrictions on the opening hours of stores, pubs, restaurants, theatres, and cinemas, it cancelled public gatherings, cultural and sports events; and made non-compliance with the restrictions a petty offence. Government Decree No. 40/2020 (March 11) declared the “state of danger” in the entire territory of Hungary in order to “eliminate the consequences” of the pandemic. The “state of danger” 6 in case of a natural or industrial disaster is to be distinguished from the constitutional category of the “state of emergency”, which refers to a military conflict. The decree refers to Article 53 of the Fundamental Law of Hungary, which prescribes that “in the event of a natural or industrial disaster endangering lives or property, or in order to mitigate the consequences thereof, the Government shall declare a state of danger, and may introduce extraordinary measures laid down in a cardinal Act of Parliament.” The article does not mention a pandemic among the natural disasters, specifically, but more importantly, it does state that the type of extraordinary measures introduced by the government has to be laid down by a cardinal law, that is, an act passed by a two-thirds majority. This decree on the state of danger had an automatic sunset after 15 days without parliamentary authorization. On 23 March, the government submitted the Act on Protecting against the Coronavirus to parliament to ask for the decree to remain in legal effect. The parliamentary opposition wanted to ensure that there was a time-limit to the period of danger and they also rejected the expedited procedure, so the decree expired on 26 March. In the interim period, between 26 March and 5 On May 11 when gene sequencing of the virus was disclosed then it was revealed that the virus in Hungary had appeared much earlier and originated from numerous different mainly European sources. 6 “State of danger” is the literal translation of the Hungarian term “veszélyhelyzet”.