Poland has recorded its highest figure of new daily coronavirus cases to date, with more than 34,000 new cases in the past 24 hours. In order to limit the spread of infection, the government will introduce new restrictions that will come into effect from Saturday and the Prime Minister has urged Poles to celebrate this Easter with only small family gatherings.
Poland will shut kindergartens, hair salons and limit church service attendance as of Saturday ahead of the Easter holidays as it faces the “most difficult moment of the pandemic”.
At a press conference Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that citizens’ mobility and business activity needed to be further restricted to stop the rapid spread of the virus.
“We are getting close to the limits after which the health service may not be functional. We are a step away from the point when health services will be unable to treat patients properly, treat our citizens. and we have to do all we can to avoid this scenario.” stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Sports centres will only be open for professional athletes, and large furniture and DIY shops will also be ordered shut, Poland’s Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told the news conference.
“Beginning this Saturday, we are introducing new safety measures, stricter security measures which will be in force for the next two weeks. This is in line with what we predicted when we made previous decisions about the curbs.” stated minister of health, Adam Niedzielski.
The Prime Minister added that further restrictions were not impossible if the situation worsens over the next two or three weeks and said that limits such as mandatory quarantine at the southern border of the country could be introduced.