UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has announced an end to some of his nation’s coronavirus lockdown measures. In a televised address late on Sunday, Mr Johnson revealed the UK would be reopening some public spaces and lifting limits on exercise and outdoor time.

The PM also said the government was encouraging people to return to work if they cannot work from home, provided they follow social distancing guidelines.

It’s the first step in a phased lifting of the lockdown, similar to the approach seen in other countries including Poland.

France has also begun lifting restrictions. People there are returning to work and school across most of the country, but Paris and other badly affected areas are remaining under lockdown.

However China, which began lifting the lockdown a month ago, has begun reporting the first new clusters of cases.

The city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged, reported a cluster of five new cases yesterday, centred around a housing compound. All of the cases were asymptomatic.

Source: BBC News

The head of the Polish Development Fund, Paweł Borys, has said the Polish economy will be hit hard in the second quarter, but the worst of the damage may be over.

According to reports by the Reuters news agency, Mr Borys said he expected the second quarter to be „very hard for the economy”. However, he added that he was confident we had reached the trough of the economic slowdown in April.

The comments come after EU forecasts predicted a 4.25% drop in Polish GDP this year, the worst outlook for the economy in decades but still the brightest forecast of any country in the EU.

Source: Reuters

Four Tajikistani men have been detained this week after allegedly recruiting in Poland for terrorist organisations.

In a statement released yesterday, a spokesman for the Minister Coordinating Special Services said the four men had been detained after attempting to recruit people in Poland for terrorist groups.

The men were arrested by the Polish Border Guard based on intelligence gathered by the ABW, Poland’s internal security agency.

The men are reported to have been inspired by the self-described Islamic State terrorist organisation, despite not being a part of it themselves.

It comes after Germany arrested five suspected Tajikistani IS members last month.

The four men will now be expelled from Poland and barred from entering any country in the Schengen Area.

Gdansk welcomed the latest addition to its new fleet of trams this weekend, just in time for the opening of a new track later this month.

Late Sunday night the city’s newest Pesa Jazz Duo Tram arrived on the tracks near City Hall. Built just 150km away in Bydgoszcz, the new tram has 32 seats and room for nearly 200 in total, social distancing notwithstanding.

The new tram joins 12 sister-trams with a total of 30 Jazz Duos on order this year.

The delivery comes ahead of the opening for a new tram route in Southern Gdansk connecting Migowo to Warszawska street over the newly finished Paweł Adamowicz Avenue.

Testing on the route is due to start later this month.

Weather

Well we had a warm weekend but parts of Poland woke up to a dusting of snow this morning with temperatures dropping below freezing in some areas.

In Gdansk today, feeling somewhat chilly with highs of just 12 degrees or so, that’s 53°F.

Getting cloudier into the afternoon with some rain possible overnight.

RGNEWS/TAH