Of the new cases confirmed on Friday, the most—3,601—were in the central Mazowieckie region, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
Meanwhile, 3,101 new infections were reported in the western province of Wielkopolskie, which is home to the major city of Poznań.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 236 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 68 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Thursday, Poland confirmed 316 deaths and 29,229 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with 372 deaths and 28,859 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.
17,617 in hospitals, 272,350 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Friday morning that 17,617 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,024 of them on ventilators, with a further 272,350 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 4,786,838 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski last week announced new, more lenient COVID-19 isolation and quarantine rules and said the pandemic was beginning to ease in the country.
Poland has since lifted the quarantine requirement for those who have come into contact with someone infected with the coronavirus and shortened the isolation period for people with COVID-19 from 10 to seven days.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference in Warsaw in the middle of last week, 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 hit new records amid the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
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Source: IAR, PAP