Of the new cases confirmed on Saturday, the most—2,759—were in the central Mazowieckie region, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
Meanwhile, 2,290 new infections were reported in the southern province of Małopolskie, which is home to Poland's second-largest city of Kraków.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 307 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 122 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Friday, Poland confirmed 423 deaths and 16,047 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with 481 deaths and 16,878 fresh cases a day earlier.
On April 8, 2021, the country reported its highest daily toll of 954 deaths related to the coronavirus.
On April 1, 2021, the Polish health ministry confirmed 35,251 new single-day cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020.
Poland's first case of coronavirus infection was reported on March 4, 2020.
15,114 in hospitals, 261,636 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Saturday morning that 15,114 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,542 of them on ventilators, with a further 261,636 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 3,780,013 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
Health Minister Adam Niedzielski has told reporters that the country is bracing for a peak in COVID-19 omicron cases in late January when up to 60,000 hospital beds could be needed for patients.
Public health authorities in the middle of last month confirmed Poland's first case of the omicron COVID-19 variant. Since then 327 more omicron cases have been detected until Friday, according to the health ministry in Warsaw.
A range of coronavirus restrictions took effect in the country in December as it seeks to fend off the new, highly contagious strain of the coronavirus.
(pm)
Source: IAR, PAP