Family minister Marlena Maląg has responded to figures showing a large jump in the number of Poles living in extreme poverty, saying the increase is only temporary due to the pandemic. A report by the European Anti-Poverty Network shows that 2 million Poles lived in extreme poverty in 2020, up from 1.6 million in 2019.
The latest number includes 410,000 children.
The report’s authors write that, in their opinion, the government’s anti-crisis shield did not provide sufficient protection against the negative economic effects of the pandemic.
Minister Maląg responded by saying the figures should be interpreted with great caution, as they were based on household expenditure and not income, which she said had gone up during the pandemic due to government measures.
Source: PAP, eapn.org.pl
The city of Poznań has signed an agreement that will see scientists monitoring the levels of coronavirus particles in wastewater.
Poznań’s deputy mayor, Bartosz Guss, said the results will allow officials to make more accurate assessments of how many residents are infected with Covid-19.
He added that the sampling will mean scientists can more closely study variants of the coronavirus.
The work, which will be done by Aquanet Group and the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, is an expansion of trials that have been running since June last year.
Aquanet’s president, Paweł Chudziński, said that monitoring has shown larger amounts of virus particles than suggested by official infection figures, which may be due to people passing on the coronavirus without showing symptoms.
Source: PAP
Prime Minister Morawiecki is at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to address a debate about the rule of law in Poland, and its relationship to EU law.
The session this morning was called in response to a ruling by Poland’s constitutional tribunal earlier this month that the Polish constitution has supremacy over EU rules.
The debate is also attended by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Yesterday the prime minister sent a letter to all European heads of state saying that Poland is not an exception, pointing out cases where other countries have ruled that their constitutions trump EU mandates.
Source: PAP, Reuters
A man who was seen hosing down a machine gun at a car wash in Kwidzyn has been arrested.
An off-duty policeman saw the 43-year-old washing dirt off the weapon with a pressure washer.
The man said he’d found the World War Two MG42 rifle buried in the ground, and decided to keep it.
He didn’t have a licence for the gun, and faces up to eight years in prison.
Source: radiogdansk.pl
Pomeranian authorities are reminding residents of the deadlines for replacing many types of solid-fuel stoves, as part of moves to combat smog in the region.
The information campaign, called “You can breathe. Pomerania is fighting smog” gives details of specific dates by which burners must be changed, based on location and fuel type.
All stoves without a formal energy classification must be replaced by September 1st 2024 at the latest.
More information can be found on the campaign website at https://powietrze.pomorskie.eu/2021/10/13/radiowa-kampania-informacyjna-dot-uchwal-antysmogowych-dla-wojewodztwa-pomorskiego/
Source: radiogdansk.pl
Weather
There are big contrasts across Poland today, with an eight-degree difference in temperatures expected between the north-east and the south-west. Gdansk is somewhere in the middle of the scale, with a chilly and wet day in store. Temperatures will reach 13 degrees Celsius, 55 Fahrenheit today, dipping to 11 degrees C, 51 Fahrenheit overnight. Tomorrow promises to be warmer with a high of 17 Celsius or 62 Fahrenheit, and some rain in the morning.
RGen/AGC
