Hungary is entering its toughest period since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and over the next two weeks hospitals will come under strain like never before, Reuters quoted Prime Minister Viktor Orban as saying on Thursday.

“I have only bad news,” Orban said in a Facebook video. “We are facing the hardest two weeks since the start of the pandemic. The number of infections is rising sharply and will continue to rise due to the new mutations.”

On Thursday, Hungary reported 4,385 new infections, the highest number this year.

Hungary’s government has extended a partial lockdown until March 15, Orban’s chief of staff said earlier in the day.

The next two weeks would be “exceptionally difficult”, Gergely Gulyas told a government briefing, adding that the pace of vaccinations would accelerate after Hungary started to roll out China’s Sinopharm vaccine on Wednesday.