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UPDATE: Four new coronavirus cases confirmed in Poland

06.03.2020 18:23
Four new cases of coronavirus infection were confirmed in Poland on Friday, raising the country’s total to five.
Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski (right) addresses reporters on Friday
Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski (right) addresses reporters on Friday Photo: PAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik

Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski told reporters: “All the patients are being provided with medical care.”

He added that none of the people infected were in a life-threatening condition.

Szumowski said the four new cases included two people in the north-western city of Szczecin who had returned to Poland from Italy, Europe’s worst-hit country.

A third case has been confirmed in the south-western Polish city of Wrocław.

The fourth is a patient who had travelled by coach with a man diagnosed earlier this week as Poland’s first case of coronavirus infection.

Senate backs special law to fight virus

Meanwhile, the upper house of the Polish parliament on Friday approved a set of special rules to help the country fend off the threat posed by the new Covid-19 virus, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and has since spread to more than 80 countries.

Under the new Polish rules, people suffering from or suspected to have an infectious disease can be ordered to undergo treatment in hospital.

Employers will be able to instruct employees to work from home. The law also introduces a special allowance for parents who are forced to stay home and take care of their children if a nursery, kindergarten or school closes amid coronavirus fears.

In total, 74 senators on Friday voted in favour of the measures. No one opposed the new rules while nine senators abstained.

(pk)

Source: PAP/IAR