In “red” zones, where the risk of COVID-19 is considered to be the highest, pubs, bars and restaurants will have to close at 10pm, state news agency PAP reported.
Both there and in “yellow” zones - areas judged to have the second-highest level of risk - people will be obliged to wear face masks in open spaces. Such rules have up to now applied only to “red” zones.
Poland currently has two “red” zones designated and 19 “yellow” ones.
Health Minister Adam Niedzielski also announced he planned to modify the country’s strategy of fighting the epidemic.
He said that patients with a positive result for COVID-19 would not, as up to now, be referred to an infectious-diseases hospital, but to a family doctor.
Niedzielski announced the new tactics to combat the virus after a recent spike in cases.
A total of 89,962 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Poland since the start of the pandemic, and 2,483 have died from the COVID-19 respiratory disease so far, officials said on Tuesday.
The number of new virus cases rose by 1,326 from the previous day, while the death toll increased by 36, according to public health authorities.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are people aged 41 to 95, the Polish health ministry said in a tweet.
It added that 30 of these patients had pre-existing medical conditions, while six died directly because of COVID-19.
On Friday, September 25, Poland's public health authorities reported 1,587 new COVID-19 cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country in early March.
With 61 COVID-19 deaths per million population, Poland remains far less affected by the coronavirus epidemic than many other countries in Europe, according to data released by the country’s health ministry last week.
(pk)
Source: PAP/IAR
Click on the ‘Play’ icon above for an audio report