Of the new cases confirmed on Friday, the most—4,937—were in the the western province of Wielkopolskie, which is home to the major city of Poznań.
Meanwhile, 4,575 new infections were reported in the central Mazowieckie region, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 218 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 72 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Thursday, Poland confirmed 262 deaths and 42,095 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with 310 deaths and 46,872 fresh cases a day earlier.
On January 27, the Polish health ministry reported a record daily rise in coronavirus infections, confirming 57,659 new cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country almost two years ago.
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.
19,051 in hospitals, 503,515 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Friday morning that 19,051 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,152 of them on ventilators, with a further 503,515 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 4,507,729 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
Two days earlier, Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski announced new, more lenient COVID-19 isolation and quarantine rules and said the pandemic was beginning to ease in the country.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference in Warsaw on Wednesday, Niedzielski said: “We are in fact dealing with the beginning of the end of the pandemic.”
In a previous statement last month, he warned that coronavirus infections in the country could exceed 60,000 daily cases and possibly approach 140,000 in mid-February.
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Source: IAR, PAP