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Polish police hunt for rule-flouters after COVID-19 spike

04.08.2020 15:23
Police and sanitary inspectors in Poland are checking whether customers in stores and malls have their nose and mouth covered following a record number of new coronavirus cases.
Photo:
Photo: PAP/Grzegorz Michałowski

Government spokesman Piotr Müller said penalties would be sharply hiked for people failing to abide by rules introduced to keep the country’s COVID-19 outbreak in check.

He added that some restaurants were failing to following sanitary regulations because they wanted to let in more customers.

Müller said for such eateries, the risk of a fine has so far been outweighed by the potential profits to be made.

Poland reported a new record daily rise in coronavirus infections on Tuesday, confirming 680 new cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country in early March.

Officials last week reported rising numbers of new coronavirus cases for three days in a row, with infections hitting a previous daily record of 658 on Saturday.

The authorities have warned that some restrictions could be reinstated if cases continued to rise as a result of people flouting public-health guidelines.

Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Monday that restrictions would be reimposed on weddings, which have been linked to multiple outbreaks in recent weeks.

(pk)

Source: IAR