Coronavirus: new information on the preventive measures in Pécs - updated

Updated on 23th of March!

"In order to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus, I have taken the following measures as mayor of Pécs on Monday, March 23rd:

Creation of a Charity Fund

We do our best to make it possible for the most vulnerable group, the elderly people of Pécs to stay at home. We have introuduced a service for the elderly (PAPI), ensuring the delivery of food, medicine and postal packages to the homes of the elderly living alone. This is a serious task for our social institutions, while we must ensure that municipal companies still provide the basic services uninterrupted even during the epidemic. What awaits our municipal healthcare system is unforeseeable.

Several citizens and companies in the city have addressed us explaining that they would like to support our efforts, by aiding PAPI or purchasing defensive gear and disinfectants for municipal institutions and companies. Some companies already made promises for exact amounts of donations. In order for these donations to arrive in an organized manner, we have established a coronavirus charity fund. If, even during these economically difficult times, you have the means, please donate to our efforts in combating the coronavirus by transferring any amount to the following account number:

10024003-00336255-00001537

If you choose to donate, please add to the notice of the transaction the point of your transaction (PAPI service, defensive gear, disinfectant, other) The account number listed above is active starting 12PM, Tuesday, March 24th.

Online city info

The municipality of Pécs, its companies, institutions and myself as mayor have taken numerous measures in the past weeks to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus. These measures require an extraordinary amount of work, preparations and carefully considered decisions. With these in mind, there are still many questions arising every day in the minds of citizens regarding the circumstances and our decisions. We promised a new, open culture of city leadership, and we intend to keep this promise – I will do my best to answer the questions directly with the help of my colleagues.

Since one of our main priorities is to minimize personal contacts, in light of the current situation I will be addressing the citizens of Pécs via online channels. The questions will be received and handled anonymously and can be sent in by chat through my Facebook-page (https://www.facebook.com/peterffyattilapecs/) or by e-mail (fogadoora@peterffyattila.hu) until 10AM Wednesday, March 25th.

I plan to answer the questions starting 2PM on Wednesday, March 25th in a Facebook live video format.

Attila Péterffy

Mayor, Municipality of Pécs"

Tüke Busz Zrt. – extra bus to the site of Honsa, disinfectant cleaning

As it is already known, several measures have been taken by the mayor of Pécs regarding local public transportation in order to ensure the safety of bus drivers. This includes the suspension of buying tickets from the driver, the separation of the driver from the passengers’ area and the restriction regarding using the front doors. Furthermore, the mayor ordained regular disinfection of buses, which has started on Wednesday, March 18th. In practice, this means that from Wednesday onwards, at the four bus hubs, between 6AM and 10PM all often used surfaces (handles, railings, stop buttons, doors, seats, etc.) are disinfected prior to service. This is complemented by the previously ordained regular complete disinfection of public transit vehicles.

The safety measures taken have made available passenger space on buses smaller, which, based on the remarks made by Honsa have made some buses servicing their site and another site overcrowded. Tüke Busz Zrt. has immediately responded by allocating an extra bus to the line 121 early mornings and early afternoons.

Dél-Kom Nonprofit Kft. – municipal cleanup of bulky household items suspended

Due to the extraordinary situation caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus, Dél-Kom Nonprofit Kft. is forced to restrict or temporarily suspend certain elements of waste collection. In order to minimize the risk of service disruption and to ensure the safety of regulare waste collection, the municipal cleanup of bulky household items is suspended from March 23rd until further notice. Once the current situation is resolved, Dél-Kom Nomprofit Kft. will prepare and communicate a new plan for the collection of bulky household items.

Dél-Kom Nonprofit Kft. thanks citizens for their understanding.

Biokom NKft.: - Centrum parking and waste collection

The current epidemic situation forces many people to stay home, which caused a surge in the usage of paid parking in the city center. Therefore, the parking facility with the largest capacity in the city center (Centrum parking) is now opened to everyone with valid parking passes issued by the company.

As more people are staying home in order to slow down the spread of the new coronavirus, more cars are parked near residential buildings. In the experience of Biokom Nkft., this often prevents waste collection, as parking cars obstruct traffic and proper functioning of garbage trucks, and limit the access to waste containers. Therefore, Biokom Nkft. urges the citizens of Pécs to park their cars properly, so that waste collection is not impeded during the epidemic situation.

Biokom Nkft. asks for the understanding of citizens, and thanks them for their cooperation!

(18. 03)

Hours of client reception at the Mayor's Office will be changed

We inform our esteemed clients, that in light of the current epidemic, hours of client reception at the Mayor’s Office will change from Wednesday, March 18th.

Client reception in the office of the Department of Authorities at Kossuth square  will be limited. Clients with numbers will be asked to wait in line outside, in front of the building. Submissions and requests will have to be handed to receptionists, direct personal contact with administrators will not be possible. Available capacities are sufficient to accept 100 clients per day in the building.

We ask the citizens of Pécs to prioritize online options when considering contacting the office. Please only appear in person if the matter at hand so requires and there is no other way to arrange it. Examples for these matters include birth registration, announcement of intent for marriages and request for the right of pre-emption for agricultural land ownership. Civil marriages are still possible, but only at the Kossuth square building and the House of Happiness. At the ceremony, only the registrar, the bride, the groom and the two witnesses are allowed to be present.

Further changes  include a change in the daily operations of social centers, starting with the Second Regional Social Center (Sarolta street 2.), which will temporarily not accept any clients. Clients will instead be redirected to the Third Regional Social Center, at the address Esztergár Lajos street 19. We call your attention to the fact that the numbers handed out a day will be limited, furthermore, the maximum amount of clients allowed in the building at any time may not exceed the number of administrators present.

Client reception has changed at the Municipal Tax Department as well, keeping in mind that most of the tasks related to personal administration regarding the tax submission due dates have already been completed. Therefore, we ask that besides the organizations obliged by law (companies) to keep in touch electronically, all private individuals also consider administration electronically. Tax administration in person will only be handled in exceptional cases, as all of the administration can be completed remotely.

In-person administration of non-authority related cases is suspended, the administrators at our clients’ disposal can be reached at the published contact options (phone, e-mail).

Thank you for your understanding!

(17. 03)

The market hall of Pécs will remain open

The market hall is an important source of food for many of us, both in practice and in symbolics. It is traditionally liked by elderly citizens, who are especially vulnerable to the threat posed by the new coronavirus.

As mayor of Pécs, it is a top priority to keep the market hall open and ready to accept customers as long as possible. In order to achieve this however, we need to enact several restrictive measures and will ask for more tolerance from the citizens of Pécs.

Few people in an organized manner

We have tested some of the measures on Tuesday (March 17th), and based on the experiences, from Wednesday, March 18th, the following measures will be introduced:

Entry into the market hall will be limited to the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky street, while exiting will only be allowed towards the bus station, on the opposite side of the building.

Only 100 people are allowed inside the market hall at any time.

Both inside and outside the market hall, waiting in line is allowed with a safety distance of two meters, which will be enforced by the public space surveillance authority and security staff of the market hall management.

The institution responsible for the upkeep of the market hall (Pécsi Vagyonhasznosító Zrt.) will ensure that workers disinfect often used surfaces (doorhandles, railings, etc.) every hour, and that they ventilate the entire area of the market hall after closing.

I ask the citizens of Pécs to be mindful of each other and changing circumstances, and that they leave the market hall as soon as they are finished with their purchases.

I inform the citizens of Pécs, that the market hall will be open as usual, from Monday to Friday between 5AM and 5PM, on Saturdays between 5AM and 2PM.

We are planning for the long term

The aim of the measures listed above is to ensure the continuous possibility of making food purchases in the market hall. At the same time, this will allow for calculable, plannable operating circumstances for local producers in and around Pécs, who are hereby encouraged to continuously supply the citizens of Pécs with high quality goods.

For the above mentioned reasons, I ask the citizens of Pécs to comply with the rules in order for us to be able to ensure that the market hall stays open as long as possible. Please watch out for each other!

Reorganization in the primary care due to coronavirus

As you already know well, the new coronavirus threatens the elder people more. Agreeing with the measure, announced by the Ministry of Human Resources at 15th of March, the Municipality of Pécs is paying close attention to protect the health and life of healthcare workers.

To fulfill the order published by the Ministry of Human Resources, on the 16th of March, the Mayor of Pécs has decided to reorganize the primary care, from the 17th of March. The goal is, that all the GP doctors above 65 years – including pediatricians – must not provide the medical care, for their own safety. Instead, the primary care will be provided by GP doctors, under the age of 65.

I supplemented this measure with one important step. I asked all the GP doctors above the age of 65, to watch out for their health and be available for their patients in their offices, but only via phone. In this way, they can continously help the patients with advices, consultations, and e-recipes, behind closed doors.

On the doors of the endangered aged doctor’s offices you can find the contacts about their replacements. It is an important information, that regarding the order of the Ministry of Human Resources, the basic dental care is limited to emergency cases only.

I’m still asking the citizens of Pécs, to contact your GP doctors only in the case of emergency, due to the changed circumstances.

These measures can be inconvenient for some of us, but the protection of our elderly citizens and doctors is our common duty. Please watch out for each other!

GP doctors who cannot be visited:

• dr. Dalnoki Jenő (Király utca 78/B.)
• dr. Vági Klára (Dobó István utca 96.)
• dr. Taubert Karolin Katalin (Alsóhavi utca 9.)
• dr. Horváth Ibolya (Kertváros utca 1.)
• dr. Vígh Veronika (Melinda utca 61.)
• dr. Varga Ágnes (Rókus utca 7/1.)
• dr. Kincses Vera (Petőfi utca 41.)
• dr. Futó Katalin (Jurisics Miklós utca 17.)
• dr. Forrai Márta (Buzsáki Imre utca 9.)
• dr. Váczi Irén (Melinda utca 62.)
• dr. Linderberg Gyöngyi (Melinda utca 61.)
• dr. Gulyás Erzsébet (Krisztina tér 18.)
• dr. Bérczi Éva (Melinda utca 61.)
• dr. Horváth Bella (Polgárszőlő utca 12.)
• dr. Gallovich Éva (Bittner Alajos út 80.)

Pediatricians who cannot be visited:

• dr. Prehoffer Éva (Lánc utca 12.)
• dr. Fischer Irén (Lánc utca 12.)
• dr. Mészáros Kálmán (Polgárszőlő utca 12.)
• dr. Tóth Zsuzsanna (Kertváros utca 1.)
• dr. Dóber Ilona (Varsány utca 14.)
• dr. Thuránszky Emőke (Lovász Pál tér 1.)
• dr. Kiss Erika (Krisztina tér 18.)
• dr. Pandur Ágnes (Testvérvárosok tere 3.)
• dr. Schmidt Mária (Csontváry u. 6/1.)
• dr. Albert Erzsébet (Csontváry u. 6/1.)
• dr. Székely Margit (Wallenstein utca 10.)
• dr. Kabács Ágnes Valéria (Testvérvárosok tere 3.)
• dr. Mammel Andrea (Nagy Ferenc tér 9-10.)
• dr. Cser Zsuzsanna (Veress Endre utca 2.)
• dr. Botykai Aranka (Endresz György utca 19.)
• dr. Kramm Hedvig (Polgárszőlő utca 12.)
• dr. Benczenleitner Éva (Semmelweis utca 20.)

These institutes offer free daycare in Pécs

In accordance with the decision of the mayor of Pécs, daycare and nursing facilities of the city will start to operate on a supervision basis from Tuesday, March 17th. The city of Pécs will provide for children in municipal, religious, university or private institutions whose parents are unable to account for their care otherwise.

The municipality of Pécs, after consulting with facility leaders has decided on organizing supervision of children based on the attendance data on Monday, March 16th. Among the daycare and nursing facilities, the following will be providing supervision until further notice:

• Eastern City Daycare will provide supervision in two locations: Teleki Blanka street 2. and the branch daycare of Vasas. (www.keletiovi.hu, tel: +3672 239-532 and +3672 537-083)
• In the southern part of the city, one branch of the Kertváros Daycare facility will provide supervision at the Testvérvárosok square location. (www.kertvarosiovi.hu, tel: +3672 438-371)
• Western City Daycare will provide supervision in three locations: at Esztergár Lajos street, Mezőszél street and Radnóti Miklós street branch daycare facilities. (www.nyugatiovoda.hu, tel: +3672 252-434, +3672 534-460, illetve +3672 255-815)
• City Center Daycare will provide supervision at one location, in the branch facility at Budai Nagy Antal street.
• (www.varoskozpontiovoda.hu, +3672 315-455)
• Apáczai Daycare will provide supervision in building III. (www.educentrum.hu/ovoda, +3672 550-643)
• The Nursing Care Facilities will provide supervision for small children at four locations, including Apáczai square (csoda@kszipecs.hu, tel: +3672 550-628), Gosztonyi street (feszek@kszipecs.hu, tel: +3672 253-097), Siklósi street (torpike@kszipecs.hu, tel.: +3672 210-626) and Köztársaság square (zoldliget@kszipecs.hu, tel.: +3672 314-994)

In case the need for the facilities listed above is reduced, we will communicate any changes.

Museums and five playgrounds are closed by the Municipality of Pécs

In order to slow spreading of the new coronavirus, the municipality of Pécs has already decided upon several policies. Additionally to those previously enacted, from Tuesday, March 17th, the institutions of the Janus Pannonius Museum, its exhibitons and all institutions of Zsolnay Heritage Management (ZSÖK) are closed.

Furthermore, in accordance with the ordinance of the municipality of Pécs, Biokom has closed the following playgrounds until further notice:

• Szilárd Leó square playground
• Tettye square playground
• Béke park playground
• Megyeri square playground
• Köztársaság tér playground

The aim of these ordinances is to ensure the health and safety of the citizens of Pécs, and therefore ask for your understanding. Let’s take care of each other!

All the measures made by the Municipality of Pécs and Attila Péterffy, the Mayor of Pécs can be found on pecs.hu/koronavirus.