The death toll increased by 262, according to public health authorities.
A total of 4,695,435 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Poland since the start of the pandemic, and 104,636 have died in connection with the COVID-19 respiratory disease so far, officials said on Thursday.
Of the new cases confirmed on Thursday, the most—9,788—were in the central Mazowieckie region, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
Meanwhile, 8,511 new infections were reported in the densely populated southern coal mining region of Silesia.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 183 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 79 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Wednesday, Poland confirmed 276 deaths and 53,420 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with 252 deaths and 36,995 fresh cases a day earlier.
On April 8, 2021, the country reported its highest daily toll of 954 deaths related to the coronavirus.
Poland's first case of coronavirus infection was reported on March 4, 2020.
14,279 in hospitals, 1,010,761 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Wednesday morning that 14,279 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,105 of them on ventilators, with a further 1,010,761 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 3,880,924 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
Poland on Thursday made free tests available to the public through pharmacies. It earlier shortened the COVID-19 quarantine period from 10 to seven days.
The government has made remote working mandatory for public-sector employees until at least the end of February as the country enters a fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic amid the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference at the end of last week that authorities would work to expand the number of hospital beds available to coronavirus patients to help deal with a spike in cases driven by the omicron variant.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski warned that coronavirus infections in the country would hit new records during the next few weeks, surpassing 60,000 daily cases and possibly approaching 140,000.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
Click on the audio player above for a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.