The Polish Health Ministry reported a record 3,003 new coronavirus infections and 75 new deaths on Wednesday, the worst daily toll since the start of the pandemic. Of the new cases, 527 were in the central region of Mazowieckie and Warsaw, 357 were in Małopolski and Kraków, and 193 new cases were in Pomerania, primarily in Gdańsk.
According to the health ministry data, some 4,000 COVID-19 patients are currently in hospital nationwide, with 283 of them on ventilators, while nearly 170,000 people are quarantined or under epidemiological supervision.
Of the 75 patients who passed away yesterday due to COVID-19, most were between the ages of 40-93 and suffering from other diseases, while 8 were relatively healthy. Over 75,000 (75,346) people have now recovered from COVID-19 across Poland as of Wednesday morning.
Poland’s health minister announced earlier in the week that the government would have “zero tolerance” towards people who flout sanitary rules amid the spike in coronavirus infections, warning that offenders will be “severely punished.”
Due to current restrictions, restaurants in “red zones” like Sopot must close by 22:00, and wearing masks is now mandatory in both yellow and red zones.
Poland’s Iga Świątek and her US partner, Nicole Melichar, have made it into the semifinals of the women’s doubles competition at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris.
The duo saw off the all-American pairing of Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula in two straight sets (6-3, 6-4) in their quarterfinal match yesterday afternoon. Świątek and Melichar will now face Chilean Alexa Guarachi and American Desirae Krawczyk for a place in the final at the Grand Slam tournament.
Świątek had already cruised into the semifinals of the women’s singles competition after beating Martina Trevisan and top-seeded Simona Halep earlier this week. The 19-year-old Polish tennis phenom is set to face off today at 15:00 against Nadia Podoroska of Argentina for the chance to advance to the finals.
Despite the absence of midfielder Piotr Zieliński and defender Maciej Rybus due to coronavirus, the Polish national football team routed Finland 5-1 last night in a friendly match held in Gdańsk.
Winger Kamil Grosicki bagged a hat-trick for Poland in the first half of the match, and strikers Krzysztof Piątek and Arkadiusz Milik each added a goal in the second half. Star striker Robert Lewandowski watched the game from the stands to save his strength ahead of upcoming Nations League matches.
Poland is ranked No. 19 worldwide by football’s governing body FIFA, while Finland is No. 56. The Polish team is scheduled to play No. 12 Italy in the group stage of the Nations League in Gdańsk this Sunday before taking on No. 50 Bosnia-and-Herzegovina in Wrocław on October 14.
A literary festival dedicated to the famous Polish-Jewish writer and graphic artist Bruno Schulz opened yesterday in Wrocław.
Its organizers describe the event as a tribute to the writer and a feast of literature, with festival panels devoted to various aspects of Polish-Jewish-Ukrainian-German relations and their reflection in literature and the arts.
Born in 1892, Bruno Schulz was shot by a Gestapo officer in 1942 in his home town of Drohobych, now in Ukraine. His major works include The Street of Crocodiles, Cinnamon Shops, and The Hour-Glass Sanatorium, which was made into a successful film by Polish director Wojciech Has in the 1970s.
The recently-established Olga Tokarczuk Foundation, which is based in Wrocław, is among the organizers of the Bruno Schulz Festival, which runs from now until October 18th. For more information on the festival, visit: http://brunoschulz.dybook.pl/program-2020/.
Weather
Thursday will be mostly cloudy and cool, with a strong breeze coming in from the south and a slight chance of rain later in the day and again overnight. Temperatures will be slightly cooler than yesterday, with a high of 14°C, or 11°F, and an overnight low of 9°C or 51°F. Similar weather is expected for tomorrow, with additional clouds and rain expected on Saturday.
Elizabeth Peck/ako
