WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland should be shut down if the number of daily coronavirus cases in the country exceeds 30,000, the prime minister’s top COVID-19 advisor told Rzeczpospolita daily in an interview published on Tuesday.
Poland faces spiralling COVID-19 infection rates, with daily cases hitting a record 27,875 on Saturday. The government last week introduced further restrictions on public life and said stricter measures may be necessary if cases continue to rise.
Asked whether the country should be “shut down”, Prof. Andrzej Horban replied, “If the number of newly diagnosed cases starts to exceed 30,000, definitely yes.”
Horban said Poland’s health system had reached the limit of its capability. “We’ve even crossed it already. Hence the decision to build temporary hospitals,” he said.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller on Tuesday said any new measures would not be as extreme as in spring.
“In spring (restrictions) were greater – education, kindergartens and creches were not working at all, now it does not necessarily have to be that way,” Muller told private broadcaster TVN 24.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
