COVID-19: Biomedical, Social and Legal Aspects

The UNICA network of universities, Semmelweis University and ELTE held a joint webinar on the 8th October titled COVID-19: Biomedical, Social and Legal Aspects. The pandemic evoked many biomedical, social and legal questions, the event aimed to examine and discuss these questions with the contribution of the experts teaching and researching at the member universities of the UNICA network.

The webinar was opened by the President of UNICA, Luciano Saso, followed by the welcome speeches of László Borhy, Rector of ELTE and Béla Merkely, Rector of Semmelweis University.

The first presenter was Béla Merkely, he presented on the results of the cross-sectional nationwide coronavirus survey, H-UNCOVER, and the development of the first and second wave of the pandemic in Hungary.

After the opening presentation, the biomedical section of the webinar continued with short presentations, moderated by the Semmelweis University’s Vice-Rector for Clinical Affairs, Attila Szabó. The presenters, Veronika Müller (Semmelweis University), Joan B. Soriano (Hospital Universitario de La Princesa), Julio Ancochea (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), and Alice Street (University of Edinburgh) investigated the clinical management of the patients, the humanistic epidemiology perspectives and the social context of COVID-19 testing.

The second section, moderated by the professor of ELTE’s Faculty of Social Sciences, Éva Orosz, discussed the social and legal aspects of the pandemics. ELTE was represented by the professor of the Faculty of Law, István Hoffmann, his presentation was about administration and administrative law used during the pandemic. He was followed by Anna-Bettina Kaiser (Humboldt University) and Türkmen Göksel (Ankara University), who presented on the effect of the measures on the constitution in Germany and the economic impact of COVID-19 in Europe. The presentation was followed by a lively discussion.