Radek Pietruszka/PAP

Poland’s health minister has said further SARS-CoV-2 mutations may appear in the future.

Speaking in the Sejm (lower house of parliament) during a meeting of Visegrad Group (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) parliamentarians, Adam Niedzielski noted that following the easing of Covid-related restrictions, “these symptoms of a changing reality are already clearly visible.”

“Of course it is very optimistic and we all crave very much the return to normality, but unfortunately there will always be a certain type of fear lurking at the back of the head,” he continued.

“Unfortunately we must remember about the risk of the pandemic, the risk that new mutations will appear within the framework of the pandemic that we have, or the risk of new viruses appearing, that is a risk we have to tame,” Niedzielski said.

He added that preparations for such events should include not only equipment but also actions.

He went on to say the government’s priority is to rebuild public health as well as providing post-Covid rehabilitation care.

According to him, the second priority is the development of “epidemic security”. Niedzielski explained that this involves “introducing genome research, which means developing potential of Polish laboratories, the Polish epidemiological system, in order to identify what mutations we are dealing with.”