“Let’s get used to these levels,” said Adam Niedzielski.
He was speaking after Poland on Saturday reported a new record daily rise in coronavirus infections, confirming 1,002 new cases, the most since the pandemic hit the country in early March.
Niedzielski told reporters on Monday that the Polish health care system was prepared for an increased number of cases.
He added that the recent rise in infections was a result of "returning to a certain, normal mode of functioning,” including children heading back to school after the summer holidays.
"The number of social interactions is increasing, and so is the risk of infection," he said.
About 80 ventilators out of the nearly 400 available across the country are currently being used to treat COVID-19 patients, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported.
A total of 79,988 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Poland since the start of the pandemic, and 2,298 have died from the COVID-19 respiratory disease so far, officials said on Monday.
Niedzielski said last week that a vaccine against the coronavirus was likely to be available in the country next spring.
He told reporters on Friday: “I think that there is a very high probability that we will have a vaccine in the spring, which will definitively end the pandemic."
(pk/gs)
Source: PAP/Polish Radio