Of the new cases confirmed on Wednesday, the most—5,277—were in the central Mazowieckie province, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 342 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 118 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Tuesday, Poland confirmed 398 deaths and 19,936 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with eight deaths and 12,334 fresh cases a day earlier.
On April 8, the country reported its highest daily toll of 954 deaths related to the coronavirus.
On April 1, the Polish health ministry confirmed 35,251 new single-day cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country early last year.
Poland's first case of coronavirus infection was reported on March 4, 2020.
18,707 in hospitals, 573,585 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Wednesday morning that 18,707 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,613 of them on ventilators, with a further 573,585 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 2,919,578 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
Officials have warned that the number of COVID-19 infections in the country could rise in the weeks ahead as the Delta variant of the coronavirus begins to spread more quickly.
Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said at the end of last month that the number of daily COVID-19 infections was growing sharply and that “drastic steps” could be necessary to counteract what he called an “explosion of the pandemic” in the country.
Niedzielski said in a media interview on Sunday that the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was expected to reach its height in Poland later this month or in early December, with up to 35,000 daily cases.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP