The National Bank of Hungary is issuing 10 and 20-forint commemorative coins to honor all those who had the lion’s share in the country successfully fighting off the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the bank said in a statement.
“As a token of recognizance of and respect felt towards our compatriots who played an outstanding role in the defense against the coronavirus pandemic, the National Bank of Hungary is issuing commemorative versions of the regular circulation 10 and 20 forint coins,” the bank said.
The obverse of both coins will be identical to the regular circulation coins, but the reverse – which on the 10-forint regular coin has the coat of arms – will feature a schematic representation of the various branches of life who contributed most to the defense efforts and the words “Honor to the heroes”.
The coins were designed by Krisztina Kovács, the winner of the bank’s tender chosen from 345 submitted designs. Two million of both denomination will be put into regular circulation while 12,000 each will be available in numbered cases at the Hungarian Mint’s Budapest shop in exchange for regular coins, but limited to 10 coins per person.
According to the latest official data, Hungary so far has had 4,258 coronavirus cases and 595 casualties, compared to 19,021 cases and 709 casualties in western neighbor Austria with a similar population, and 33,585 cases and 1,931 casualties in Romania to the East, with twice as many inhabitants.
Hungary also introduced new restrictive measures at its borders effective from today, in an effort to safeguard its population against a fresh spike in infections in many European countries.
Title image: Obverse and reverse view of the 20-forint commemorative coin. (source: mnb.hu)
