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Epidemic in Poland will not end soon: health minister

09.06.2020 06:50
The coronavirus epidemic in Poland “will not end so soon,” Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski has warned.
Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski
Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski Photo: PAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik

He was speaking as public health authorities on Monday confirmed a daily record of 599 COVID-19 infections in Poland.

Szumowski said the spike in cases was the result of carrying out 50,000 screening tests in mines.

He added: “The epidemic is not over and it will not end so soon. We will have hotbeds here and there, most often in workplaces.”

Officials said on Monday that Poland would temporarily shut down 12 of its coal mines after coronavirus infections rose sharply in the country's southern coal region in recent weeks.

A total of 27,160 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Poland, with 1,166 deaths from the coronavirus so far, officials said on Monday evening.

Asked whether the government had been too quick in loosening a coronavirus lockdown, Szumowski said that a collapse of the economy would also pose a threat to Poles.

(pk)

Source: Polish Radio