Adam Niedzielski made the declaration at a news conference in Warsaw on Thursday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The health minister said that just before Christmas, “the daily number of cases, mainly flu and RSV, would come to 40,000,” but in recent days "infections have been growing ever so slightly.”
However, these statistics should be treated “with much caution,” Niedzielski added.
He explained: “We had the Christmas break and children didn’t go to school; moreover, infections may yet peak early this year.”
'We must be prepared for every scenario'
In recent years, flu cases usually reached their height in February or early March, Niedzielski told reporters.
He said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we must be prepared for every scenario, including the worst-case scenario. And so we already have a plan in place for when infections reach their peak.”
Many kids, teens in hospital with flu
Niedzielski also said that this year, flu cases have been especially widespread among children and teenagers, with people aged under 18 accounting for 60 percent of flu hospitalisations.
He announced: “In response, we have increased the number of hospital beds for children ill with the flu from 14,000 to 17,000. Some 9,000 children are currently hospitalised with the illness, so the occupancy rate has fallen to below 60 percent, from over 80 percent in some regions.”
Supply of medicines ‘sufficient for now’
Niedzielski told the news conference that although demand for medicines against infections was currently “enormous,” supplies around the country were “sufficient for now.”
'Combo tests' to be available 'within week'
Niedzielski announced that new “combo virus tests" would be available for free at health clinics “within a week.”
These new tests, which will be administered by family doctors, are designed to determine if the patient has COVID-19, the flu or RSV, officials said.
Niedzielski called on the public to vaccinate themselves against infectious diseases, warning that “the reluctance of a section of society to get vaccinated means that we may see the return of illnesses we haven’t had to deal with for some time.”
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, rynekzdrowia.pl