Poles will receive a total of 5.5 million coronavirus vaccinations by the end of March, the government vaccination commissioner has announced.
– By the end of the month, we should have about 20 percent more of those vaccinations than the accepted goal – commissioner told a press conference.
As of March 17, nearly 3 million Poles had received the first jab and over 1.6 million had been fully inoculated with two doses of the vaccine. The commissioner added that the quarterly goal had been achieved, referring to the government’s target of 3 million first-dose vaccinations by the end of March. „This goal was achieved yesterday,” he added.
Rescuers with sniffer dogs have been called in to search a townhouse building which partially collapsed in southern Poland on Thursday.
There was no indication, however, that anyone was buried under the rubble, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported. Staff from a construction firm were carrying out renovation work on the four-storey building in the southern city of Rybnik when one of its walls disintegrated, but managed to escaped in time. Eight fire brigade crews were sent to the site.
Poland’s territorial army is to have three new brigades and six more battalions under a decision officially signed on Thursday by the Polish Defence Minister. Poland created a new territorial defence force in 2016, a move that officials said was needed in the face of an aggressive Russia.
– The three new brigades will be created in provinces in which there is the greatest interest in serving in the army, and – more importantly – which are key locations from the security point of view – the minister said on Thursday.
He added the new brigades would be set up in Poland’s south-eastern Podkarpackie region, the eastern Lubelskie region, which borders Belarus and Ukraine, and in the central region of Mazowieckie, which includes the national capital, Warsaw. Poland’s territorial defence force consist mainly of volunteers, but also has over 3 700 professional soldier.
A 23 year old resident of Kartuzy, near Gdansk who died when his car collided with the car of well known journalist from Gdańsk, who also died, was drunk an autopsy has confirmed. Both men died at the scene of the accident which happened on March 8th.
Well known local TVP journalist, Piotr Świąc was found to have no blood alcohol in his system, while the other driver was found to be „well over” the limit, although no official blood alcohol concentration figure has yet been released. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the drunk driver, who leaves behind a 4-year old child, had written a farewell letter which was later discovered. Prosecutors are investigating the circumstances of the accident.
Source – Radio Gdańsk, Trojmiasto.pl
Weather
Today will see a return to wintry weather with snow showers possible throughout the day and a fresh breeze with highs of a measly 1 degree centigrade (34 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to -5 degrees overnight. Saturday will be a cloudy day with a chance of showers in a gentle breeze and temperatures reaching 2 degrees during the day and freezing point overnight.
Martin Caren/ako
