People travelling to Poland from Brazil, India and South Africa will have to quarantine, Poland's health minister said on Tuesday, as he announced outbreaks of the variant of COVID-19 in first detected in India in the Warsaw and Katowice areas.
"In Poland we have at least 16 cases of the Indian variant (of coronavirus)" - Health Minister Adam Niedzielski told a news conference on Tuesday. He explained that two outbreaks have been located - in Warsaw and in Katowice.
"In the case of Brazil, India and South Africa, people travelling from these locations will automatically have to quarantine without the possibility of getting an exception due to a test" - he added.
The Ministry of Health informed on Tuesday about 2,296 newly confirmed coronavirus cases and the death of 28 infected persons.
Since the start of the pandemic, Poland has reported a total of 2,808,052 cases and 68,133 deaths.
Minister Niedzielski also informed at the conference that the ministry has now focused its efforts on a coronavirus variant detection mechanism, rather than on expanding the hospital beds base for COVID-19 patients. "And such mechanism has been created by the Health Ministry" - he explained.
He also said a special team would coordinate and monitor the research aimed at detecting the variant at hand.
Niedzielski reminded that two cases of the Indian variant have recently been detected in a Polish diplomat and a member of his family. The week before they had been evacuated on a plane to Poland.
"This variant has already been detected in Poland, but let me reassure, that in case of that particular transport everything was under strict sanitary regime" - the minister said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Health Ministry