Health minister Adam Niedzielski has announced the easing of some of the rules around Covid-19, as he told a press conference that we are beginning the end of the pandemic.
The minister said the peak of the fifth wave is behind us, according to the number of new infections, and also other measures of the impact on the healthcare system.
He pointed out that the number of new hospitalisations is small compared to the number of new infections, and that hospital stays are shorter on average than in the fourth wave.
From the 15th of this month, isolation after a positive Covid test will be reduced from ten to seven days, and quarantine for household members will also end 7 days from the date of the test.
From tomorrow, quarantine after contact with a Covid-positive person outside the home—for example in the workplace or in school—will be abolished altogether.
Also from tomorrow, those arriving in Poland from abroad will only undergo 7-day quarantine if they don’t have an EU Covid certificate.
Schools will return to full-time attendance earlier than planned, on 21 February.
Minister Niedzielski also announced that 5,000 hospital beds currently set aside for Covid cases will return to regular use.
He added that he hoped that in March the government would be able to introduce more lenient regulations, so that the country can get back to the “normal mode of operation” in Spring.
Source: PAP, gov.pl
UK prime minister visits Poland
British prime minister Boris Johnson is in Poland today.
He’s here to meet with the president and prime minister to talk about security issues, including the situation in Ukraine, and about Polish-British relations.
Johnson will also visit British soldiers deployed here.
The UK announced on Monday that 350 more of its troops would join the 100 who were sent last year.
Source: Reuters, PAP
Poland taken to European court over waste water treatment failures
The European Commission says it will bring Poland to the European Court of Justice for inadequate treatment of urban waste water.
Its press release claims that over a thousand settlements in Poland directly discharge waste water into rivers, lakes and the sea without treatment.
It says that Poland was supposed to be compliant with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in 2015, and that it put the country on formal notice in 2018.
The Commission says that despite some progress, and EU financial support, efforts by the Polish authorities have been “unsatisfactory and insufficient”.
It added that untreated waste water can contain bacteria and viruses which present a risk to human health, as well as nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus which can damage freshwaters and the marine environment.
Source: europa.eu, thefirstnews.com
Substantial WWII weapons find on Sopot building site
A sizeable WWII arsenal has been unearthed at a construction site in Sopot.
An excavator driver at the site on al. Niepodległosci made the discovery, which included missiles, rocket launchers, anti-personnel mines, grenades, ammunition, and cubes of TNT explosive.
Army sappers were called in, and they took the cache to the military training ground at Rozewie for disposal.
Source: radiogdansk.pl
Gdańsk shipyard workers move forward to Olympic skating finals
Two Gdańsk shipyard workers will battle for fifth place in the 3,000 metre short-track relay race at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Sunday.
Skaters Nikola Mazur and Kamila Stormowska missed out on medal places with their teammates in yesterday’s qualifiers.
It’s the Olympic debut for both women.
Fellow relay skater Natalia Maliszewska finally entered the competition after what she called a “traumatic” experience around conflicting Covid test results.
Poland has so far won one bronze medal at the Games, in the ski-jumping contest, and has six other top-ten finishes.
Source: trojmiasto.pl, theguardian.com
Weather
It’ll be another cloudy and mild day today, staying dry with a top temperature of 7°C / 44°F. The mercury will dip overnight to 3°C / 37°F, before another dry and cloudy day tomorrow with some clear spells.
RGEN/AGC
