Poland has welcomed 2021 with muted celebrations amid the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions in place to limit crowds at New Year’s Eve parties. Most people stayed home on New Year’s Eve and celebrated only with their immediate family, heeding calls from health officials and experts, news outlets reported. Under a coronavirus curfew, free movement was restricted throughout the country from 7 p.m. on December 31 to 6 a.m. on January 1. Poland on December 28 entered a three-week “national quarantine” in a stepped-up effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Gatherings of more than five people have been forbidden under measures aiming to contain the COVID-19 epidemic.
Source – Polskie Radio
Polish president hopes for return to 'normal life’ in 2021
Poland’s president has said he hopes 2021 will be a year of a gradual return to normal life as the country rolls out a mass vaccination drive to combat the coronavirus. „We trust that the vaccine will allow us to come to grips with the pandemic and will help us return to normality,” Andrzej Duda said in a New Year’s address. He told the nation in his message that 2020 „was all along different from previous years” and „proved to be extremely difficult for us all … a year full of sacrifice, tragedies, and suffering.” „My heart goes out to the bereaved families overcome with pain after the loss of those dear to them,” he said. „May the New Year bring you comfort and consolation,” he added.
Source – Polskie Radio
Warsaw could provide Kiev 1.5m COVID-19 vaccines
A Ukrainian deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday that neighbouring Poland could provide his country with 1.5 million coronavirus vaccines. The minister added that the Ukrainian authorities hope to begin mass vaccination against the coronavirus by the end of the first half of 2021. A 52-year-old Warsaw hospital nurse on Sunday became the first Pole to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Source – Polskie Radio
Several fires in the Tri-City caused by fireworks
And finally, despite the somewhat more muted New Year’s celebrations in the Three Cities last night as a result of Coronavirus restrictions, there was one group of people who had a busier night than usual. The cities’ fire services were tasked with attending to a number of fires started as a result of the irresponsible setting off of fireworks, although they have reported that this year was quieter than usual for a New Year’s Eve. According to the trojmiasto.pl website, there were around 10 incidents reported in Gdansk, 10 in Gdynia and none in Sopot. In the whole of the Pomerania region there were 50 call-outs overnight.
Sources – trojmiasto.pl
Weather
Today will be a cloudy and hazy day with a gentle breeze and temperatures reaching -1 degrees centigrade (30 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to -2 degrees overnight. Tomorrow will continue cloudy with a gentle breeze with and temperatures reaching 1 degree centigrade during the day and -2 degrees overnight.
RGEN
