Of the new cases confirmed on Tuesday, the most—6,340—were in the central Mazowieckie region, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
Meanwhile, 5,509 new infections were reported in the densely populated southern coal mining region of Silesia.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 189 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 63 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Monday, Poland confirmed two deaths and 29,100 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with 25 deaths and 34,088 fresh cases a day earlier.
On Saturday, January 22, the Polish health ministry confirmed 40,876 new single-day cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020.
On April 8, 2021, the country reported its highest daily toll of 954 deaths related to the coronavirus.
Poland's first case of coronavirus infection was reported on March 4, 2020.
14,153 in hospitals, 946,658 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Tuesday morning that 14,153 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,164 of them on ventilators, with a further 946,658 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 3,866,914 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
The government this week made remote working mandatory for public-sector employees until the end of February as the country enters a fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Poland on Tuesday shortened the COVID-19 quarantine period from 10 to seven days. The government also plans to make free tests available to the public through pharmacies from January 27.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference at the end of last week that authorities would work to expand the number of hospital beds available to coronavirus patients to help deal with a spike in cases driven by the omicron variant of the virus.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski warned that coronavirus infections in the country would hit new records during the next few weeks, surpassing 60,000 daily cases and possibly approaching 140,000.
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.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP