tourist guests, events and amateur team sport were banned, recreational facilities and institutions such as gyms, swimming pools, theatres, museums, and zoos were closed. students above the 9th grade, university, and college students had to switch to online teaching. kindergarten and school teachers had to be tested weekly. a few days later it became mandatory to wear a face mask in all public spaces, except for green spaces, in large cities. on 21 may 2021, orban informed that the nation was going to lift the most remaining covid-19 restrictions, including a night-time curfew, as soon as the number of those vaccinated reaches 5 million. he also added that masks would no longer need to be worn in public, and gatherings of up to 500 people could be held in the open air. events in closed spaces will be open to those with vaccination cards. "this means we have defeated the third wave of the pandemic," orban was quoted as saying. state of emergency on 11 march 2020, the hungarian government declared a state of emergency. while these periods usually last for 15 days (after which the state of emergency must be renewed by parliament), minister of the prime minister's office gergely gulyás said the measures may be in force indefinitely, as "there is a consensus that the length of this period may be not only weeks, but months." public gatherings in an enclosed space with more than 100 people were prohibited, sporting events that could attract more than 500 spectators must be held behind closed doors, and foreign exchange programs were suspended. universities were ordered to suspend in-person classes and switch to online courses. elementary and high schools were initially excluded from closure, due to an initial assessment that covid-19 did not have as serious of an impact to children. the ministry of human capacities recommended that schools suspend field trips, open-air classes, and exchange programs. on 13 march during a radio interview, prime minister viktor orbán said kindergarten was also excluded since parents would have to guarantee children's supervision, and teachers would be required to take unpaid leave. that evening, orbán announced that elementary and high schools would be closed to in-person classes effective 16 march. on 16 march 2020, prime minister orbán announced further restrictions, including ordering the cancellation of all events, and banning restaurants and cafes from operating beyond 3 pm. only grocery stores and pharmacies would be allowed to remain open past this time. in addition, it was announced that the country would allow entry to hungarian citizens only. in spite of the notices issued by operational staff about responsible behaviour and moderation, a 30-year-old security guard shared fake news on youtube regarding the pandemic. he was the subject of police action. rule by decree on 30 march 2020, the national assembly passed an act 137–53 that made the state of emergency indefinite and allowed prime minister orbán to rule by decree during it. during the state of emergency, by-elections and national and local referendums must be postponed until after the conclusion of the state of emergency, and deliberate bodies of a local governments and national minority self-governments cannot be dissolved. the act also makes the deliberate distribution of misleading information that obstructs responses to the pandemic punishable by up to five years in prison, and breaking quarantine punishable by up to three. the bill faced opposition for containing indefinite restrictions on these powers, as well as concerns over the possibility that the "fake news" prohibition in the bill could be abused for censorship of dissenting opinions towards the government's response. on 31 march 2020, liberal members of european parliament voiced concerns that the bill was incompatible with belonging to the european union. without mentioning hungary, european commission president ursula von der leyen advised that measures for controlling the pandemic should be "limited to what is necessary and strictly proportionate", and "not at the expense of our fundamental principles and values as set out in the treaties". on 1 april 2020, a joint statement was issued by 13 eu member states, stating that they were "deeply concerned" about emergency initiatives violating democracy, fundamental rights, and the rule of law. the statement did not explicitly refer to hungary; the country joined the statement the following day. on 30 april 2020, viktor orban's chief of staff gergely gulyás announced that hungarian schools will remain closed to the end of may 2020, and events that feature more than 500 participants are banned until 15 august 2020. the national assembly abolished the state of emergency on 16 june 2020. travel and entry restrictions entry restrictions were initially targeted towards countries with large numbers of cases; the country initially began to suspend admission of migrants from its transit zones on the serbian border, citing the outbreak in iran. on 6 march 2020, hungary suspended the issuance of visas to iranian citizens. on 9 march 2020, restrictions began to emerge on air traffic from northern italy due to the outbreak in the country. on 11 march 2020, pursuant to the state of emergency, hungary barred entry into the country by foreign nationals via china, iran, italy and south korea. hungarian citizens would still be allowed to return, but would be required to undergo 14 days of self-isolation upon return. border checks were also re-implemented at the austrian and slovenian borders, and the government suspended travel by its employees without prior approval. on 13 march 2020, israel was added after some cases were tied to travel to the country. a hungarian state railways train conductor wearing a face mask in december 2020. from may 4, 2020, to july 3, 2021, covering the mouth and nose with a mask (scarves were accepted until september 2020) was mandatory on all means of public transport. on 16 march 2020, hungary restricted entry into the country to citizens only. from 27 april 2020, wearing a mask will be mandatory on public transport in budapest. on 28 august 2020, as cases started to rise again, gergely gulyás announced all borders to close as of 1 september 2020. hungarians returning to hungary have to provide two negative tests or go into quarantine. economic decisions for managing the emergency mihály varga minister of finance said the government had to react to the real needs of the economy, and they were still waiting for the feedback from the trade and industry chamber. on 18 march during the early afternoon hours viktor orbán announced several upcoming decisions. though he used his own facebook page instead of the dedicated communication channels. the decisions were as follow: all due payments are suspended which are caused by loans to persons and companies. it is valid for capital and interest payment as well. this is in force up to the end of the year. short-term loans for companies are prolonged up to 30 june. loans delivered from 19 march may have a maximum 5% above the hungarian national bank's interest rate. government remits subsidiaries which should have to paid based on the number of employees on the fields of tourism, catering, leisure, sport, culture and personal taxi services. employees working in these sectors do not have to pay a pension subsidiary and the fee for receiving the benefits of the health sector is the minimum fee declared in the act. taxi drivers subject to the kata tax system are exempt from tax until 30 june. rental contracts which are in connection with the above listed sectors may not be abrogated, rental fees may not be increased. contribution to the development of tourism (a kind of tax) is suspended until 30 june. labor rules will be more flexible, to make agreements between employers and employees easier. the order about these changes was published in the 18 march edition of magyar közlöny. mihály varga minister of finance and representatives of hungarian banking association had a meeting regarding actions listed above. use of vaccines from china and russia reports in march 2021 stated that hungary was the first country in the eu to "begin using china's sinopharm and russia's sputnik v vaccines, even as polling showed that public trust in non-eu approved vaccines was low". the european commission's vaccine passport plan excluded the sputnik and sinopharm products because they were not "eu authorized vaccines". one suggestion to resolve that issue was for "russian and chinese vaccine producers submit their products to the ema for testing and authorization". in end march 2021, hungary also granted emergency use licenses to two more vaccines, cansino (from china) and covishield (produced by serum institute of india), but as of august 2021, neither of them were used in the national vaccination programme. with the original orders depleted, hungary doesn't offer sputnik vaccines anymore as of august, 2021, however, sinopharm vaccines are still available for the country's pioneer third dose vaccination programme. impact on sport nearly all sport events were affected by the state of emergency introduced on 11 march 2020. it banned all indoor events with at least 100 and every outdoor events with at least 500 participants. as a consequence the next 25th round of 2019–20 nemzeti bajnokság i had to be played without spectators. only six out of 55 member states of uefa had open matches, which were free to visit. on 16 march 2020, there was a decision made about suspension of the championship, suspending all matches. on 11 march 2020, they ended erste liga 2019–2020 hungarian ice hockey championship, which was at the semi-final stage, and the same decision was made about all other ice hockey championships in the country. all matches part of championships and cup series organised by the hungarian handball association were suspended. the same decision was made by the hungarian water polo federation. basketball and volleyball championships were also suspended. the national swimming championship has also been prolonged. the hungarian boxing association announced the evacuation of participants from london, where qualification for the 2020 summer olympics were ongoing. hungarian karate federation announced that they temporally cancel karate contents part of the content calendar. on 13 march, the three étaps of giro d'italia in the country had been cancelled. on 17 march 2020, the most well-known hungarian bicycle tour, tour de hongrie has been moved from may to october 2020. due to the state of emergency in bulgaria, they banned all sport events in the country up to 29 march 2020. as a result, the qualifying match between bulgaria and hungary has been postponed. on 17 march 2020, uefa postponed the whole championship a year to 2021, which is scheduled to be held among other countries apart from hungary. european karate federation informed hungarian karate federation about the cancelling european championship that year, planned to take place in baku from 25 to 29 march 2020. this championship is part of the qualification events to the olympics.