Adam Niedzielski said that shopping malls will have to close during that period, though grocery stores and drugstores will be exempt. Ski slopes will also be shut.
Meanwhile, a curfew will be imposed on New Year's Eve, with restrictions on free movement from 7pm on December 31 to 6am on January 1.
Anyone arriving in Poland on organized transport between December 28 and January 17 will have to undergo a 10-day quarantine.
Announcing the tough new restrictions to fight an epidemic that has claimed over 24,000 lives in his country, Niedzielski told reporters on Thursday: "Appeals alone will not help, appeals alone are not enough."
‘Spectre of third wave’
He added that "the spectre of a third wave” which started from Poland’s current level of some 10,000 new infections a day would push the country’s public health services beyond their capability to cope.
Poland on Thursday reported 11,953 new coronavirus infections and 431 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1,171,854 and fatalities to 24,345.
On November 25, the country reported its highest daily toll of 674 deaths related to the coronavirus.
On November 7, the Polish health ministry confirmed 27,875 new single-day cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country in early March.
Niedzielski has previously warned that the chances of the country being hit by a third wave of the coronavirus will be greater if people do not spend the winter school break at home.
First vaccines by end of this year?
Earlier this week, Niedzielski told reporters that the first coronavirus vaccines could arrive in Poland by the end of this year.
The country plans to spend PLN 3 billion (EUR 675m, USD 820m) on over 60 million doses of vaccines under a national inoculation programme adopted by the government on Tuesday.
(pk)
Source: IAR/PAP
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