Poland expects COVID cases to rise as Delta variant spreads

FILE PHOTO: A paramedic is vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine as a one of the first people at a hospital in Warsaw, Poland December 27, 2020. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) – After weeks of low infection rates, Poland faces growing numbers of new coronavirus cases as the Delta variant spreads, the health ministry said on Monday.

Poland’s new daily cases have been hovering around 100 for weeks, but Health Minister Adam Niedzielski warned that the weekly average had increased by 13%.

“Stabilization of infections is a thing of the past … We will see further increases in the following weeks, as evidenced by the change in the virus reproduction rate (R), which has returned to 1,” Niedzielski said on Twitter.

The health ministry spokesman has said the Delta variant is becoming more prevalent.

Poland reported 67 new coronavirus cases on Monday and no related deaths. At the height of the third wave in the spring, daily infection numbers exceeded 35,000. In total, it has reported 2,881,491 cases and 75,215 deaths.

Poland, a country of around 38 million, has so far fully vaccinated just over 16 million people.

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