Of the new cases confirmed on Tuesday, the most—6,236—were in the central Mazowieckie region, which includes the national capital Warsaw.
Meanwhile, 5,698 new infections were reported in the densely populated southern coal mining region of Silesia.
The latest deaths in Poland’s coronavirus outbreak are 173 people with pre-existing medical conditions and 66 others who died directly because of COVID-19, the health ministry said.
On Monday, Poland confirmed 33 deaths and 33,480 new coronavirus infections nationwide, compared with 23 deaths and 48,251 fresh cases a day earlier.
On Thursday, January 27, the Polish health ministry reported a record daily rise in coronavirus infections, confirming 57,659 new cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country almost two years ago.
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.
16,357 in hospitals, 683,853 quarantined
The Polish health ministry announced on Tuesday morning that 16,357 COVID-19 patients were in hospitals nationwide, 1,058 of them on ventilators, with a further 683,853 people quarantined for possible coronavirus exposure.
Meanwhile, 4,043,032 people have now recovered from COVID-19 throughout the country, the health ministry also said.
Poland at the end of last month shortened the COVID-19 quarantine period from 10 to seven days and made free tests available to the public through pharmacies.
The government earlier made remote working mandatory for public-sector employees until at least the end of February as the country experiences 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 last month that authorities were working 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 could exceed 60,000 daily cases and possibly approach 140,000 in mid-February.
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Source: IAR, PAP