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Poland has no plans to reinstate state of epidemic – deputy minister

Kraska said there was no clear explanation as to why the infection rate was growing so fast during the summer months though he said new strains of the virus may be a key factor.
Radek Pietruszka/PAP

The Polish government has no plans to reintroduce the state of epidemic over the coronavirus, a deputy health minister has told PAP.

Waldemar Kraska said the matter was discussed at crisis management meetings, which take place over a dozen times each week, but that at the moment no such move was being considered.

The decision came despite the number Covid infections in Poland increasing.

The deputy minister said a growth in the daily infection rate of SARS-CoV-2 was being observed, and that, “maybe they’re not big numbers but in percentage terms we’re seeing significant growth”. He added that the increase was as high as 90 percent week on week.

Kraska said there was no clear explanation as to why the infection rate was growing so fast during the summer months though he said new strains of the virus may be a key factor.

“All variants, which mutate, strive to be more contagious,” he said. “It’s their natural defence, in order to survive in a given environment. In the same way, the variant BA.4 and BA.5 are characterised by being quite contagious in close contact. The good news is that they do not produce such severe clinical symptoms as previous mutations.”

He went on to say that although Covid-19 had gone out of people’s minds in recent months, vigilance was still called for. He said the measures employed at the start of the pandemic – wearing masks, disinfection, maintaining social distance – should still be used, especially by people in high-risk groups.

“We will try not to impose tough restrictions, just recommend to certain social groups that they should follow our recommendations…,” he said. “We should try to persuade and explain in a purely scientific and professional way what the benefits of that are. Not order, but persuade.”

He said vaccinations should certainly continue they are a very effective defence against the disease, as shown by the previous pandemic wave, and said vaccines aimed at new variants would be available from September.

Citing unofficial information from the European Medicines Agency, Kraska said the new booster jabs would be reserved for people over 18 years of age.

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