Poland is on track to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus in two months or less, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Friday.
He told reporters Poland was in line to administer 23 to 24 million shots by the end of the second quarter in an accelerated national inoculation campaign following stepped-up deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines.
In earlier estimates, officials said that Poland aimed to administer 20 million anti-COVID vaccines by the end of June, and to inoculate all Poles willing to have a shot with a first dose by the end of August.
Nearly 8.5 million COVID-19 shots have been administered in Poland so far, including more than 250,000 over the last 24 hours, officials announced on Friday.
Source – Daily Mail, Dziennik Bałtycki, Wikipedia
Poland’s consumer protection authority has warned the country’s banks over any plans to impose negative interest rates on private deposits.
A watchdog spokesman added that such moves „could undermine the already strained public confidence in the banking system” and „lead to large-scale withdrawals of savings.” He argued that such steps would „force consumers to look for alternative and not always safe ways of investing their money.”
„Additionally, if consumers started to withdraw money from banks and decided to keep it at home, the scale of theft and fraud against consumers would most likely increase,” he warned.
Source – Polskie Radio
Over 20,000 teachers in Poland have so far applied to take part in a drive to help pupils get back into shape after months of remote learning amid the COVID-19 epidemic, officials said on Friday.
Enrolment in the education ministry initiative for teachers started on April 8. The programme was launched amid concern that Polish children’s fitness levels have plummeted due to online classes and long hours in confined spaces without physical exercise.
The average Pole has gained almost 2 kg in body weight since the coronavirus epidemic hit the country last March, a recent study has found.
Source – Polskie Radio
Good news for the local economy, the Port of Gdansk has handled the largest number of containers among all ports in the Baltic Sea in the first quarter of 2021.
A total of over half a million containers holding 13.3 million tonnes of goods has been handled so far this year, just beating closest rival the port of St. Petersburg in Russia and almost double the output of the port of Gdynia. In an encouraging sign, the figures are almost 20% more than for the same time last year.
Source – Radio Gdańsk
Weather
Today will be a cloudy day with sunny spells and a gentle breeze with temperatures reaching 10 degrees centigrade (50 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to 4 degrees overnight. Sunday will continue with sunny intervals and temperatures will reach a lovely 11 degrees during the day and 5 degrees overnight.
MC/am
