Poland declares partial lockdown as cases soar

WARSAW • Poland will go into a three-week partial lockdown, with people encouraged to stay home and many shops and facilities closed to stem a rising tide of coronavirus cases.

"We ask employers to allow working from home as much as possible," Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told reporters.

Shopping malls, hotels, pools, gyms and schools will be closed from Saturday, until at least April 9.

"We had to react," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters after returning from a visit to France, saying he hoped the new restrictions would "calm the current wave of coronavirus".

"I am confident that this fight, which we are supporting through the vaccination programme, will ultimately prove successful," he said.

The European Union member nation of 38 million people already has a string of restrictions in place, including closed restaurants, fitness centres, and schools for grades four and higher.

The fresh restrictions come as Poland has seen the spread of a highly infectious coronavirus variant first detected in Britain, which Mr Niedzielski said was responsible for the majority of recent infections.

New coronavirus cases totalled 25,052 over the past 24 hours on Wednesday, raising the number of infections since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to close to two million, including 48,032 deaths.

Mr Niedzielski said the recent spike has added pressure to overwhelmed hospitals, forcing the authorities to impose fresh restrictions. "These numbers pose a threat to the functioning of the healthcare system," he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE