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Poland plans help for northern region hit by virus curbs

05.03.2021 14:45
Poland’s government plans to offer special aid to the country’s northeastern Warmia and Mazuria region, which has been hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions, officials said on Friday.
A truckload of face masks to be handed out to residents in the northeastern Polish city of Olsztyn amid a spike in coronavirus cases.
A truckload of face masks to be handed out to residents in the northeastern Polish city of Olsztyn amid a spike in coronavirus cases.Photo: PAP/Tomasz Waszczuk

The Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology is putting the finishing touches on legislation to provide the region with additional assistance to help it weather the coronavirus crisis, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

In a move designed to counter a recent spike in cases, a range of restrictions on public life were reintroduced in that part of Poland at the end of last week amid a rising number of COVID-19 infections.

Hotels, shopping malls, cinemas, theatres, museums and swimming pools there had to shut, while young schoolchildren in the region had to return to remote classes.

Pandemic restrictions in the rest of the country remained unchanged.

Poland on Friday reported 15,829 new coronavirus infections and 263 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases during the pandemic to 1,766,490 and fatalities to 44,912.

Of the new cases confirmed on Friday, 1,083 were in the Warmia and Mazuria region, which is home to the city of Olsztyn.

Poland’s government in January pledged hundreds of millions in extra aid to ski resorts hit by coronavirus curbs amid a second wave of the pandemic.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR