"We have 300,000 infections a week". Poland struggles with COVID-19, RSV, and the flu

While a wave of influenza infections is sweeping through Poland, the RSV virus attacks from the other side, and COVID-19 is still out there too. Doctors speak of "infections armageddon" and "tridemic". Ever more often the viruses attack children, many of whom require hospital care in such cases. More and more people queue up to see doctors, and it sometimes takes a few days to see one.

Chariman of Warsaw Family Doctors Dr Michał Sutkowski of Lazarski University commented on the problem in TVN24 on Tuesday. "This is a real cross-infection storm. I can't remember an infection season when we would have so many dangerous diseases overlapping with so many problems, especially children-related, and so many hospitalised persons," he said.

He stressed that "indeed we have approximately 300,000 infections a week". "This is a huge number," he added.

According to Sutkowski, back in the days there were few or very few cases of the flu in late December. "Now influenza is clearly on the rise. We have common cold diseases, including RSV which is very dangerous to little babies, and we have a share of Covid. This whole mixture, with no testing and so many patients, causes massive problems in clinics, and the peak of this pyramid is seen by our colleagues in hospitals, where paediatric wards are filled to 70% capacity on average, with some places at 100% or even 120%," he said.

Poland's Health Minister Adam Niedzielski commented on the situation on social media on Tuesday. "In the last nine days we've had a mild deceleration in the flu epidemic. Each day we recorded an average of 43,200 infections and suspected infections, which was a 2% increase compared to the previous week. The school break restrained morbidity in children up to 14 years of age," he wrote.

Niedzielski added that a special meeting was held at the Ministry of Health to address the issue. Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska spoke with reporters after the meeting. He informed that 389,000 people were infected with the flu virus in the last nine days.

"Good news is that flu morbidity in the youngest citizens of our country is has now decreased. Maybe it hasn't been a dramatic drop, but we can see that the holiday period partially made the presence of these infections, especially the flu, but also RSV among the youngest, less frequent than the previous week," Kraska added.

He also said there were less children and youth hospitalised at paediatric wards. "Compared to the previous week, there's 400 (hospitalised) persons less across the country".

Kraska also informed the number of beds at paediatric wards had been increased. "We have nearly 17,000 beds at our disposal" - he said, adding that the voivodeships which had paediatric wards filled up to 90% capacity were now filled to 80%. "We're talking about Lubelskie, Podkarpackie, and Świętokrzyskie voivodeships," he listed.

The deputy health minister also informed that the meeting at the ministry also pertained to triple testing, that could detect influenza, COVID-19, and RSV infections.

"Yesterday there was a session of the Transparency Council (under the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System - edit.). We know the recommendation is positive. Today we are waiting for the official recommendation, as the health minister's ordinance and NFZ (National Health Fund) chairman's order depend on it," Kraska explained.

He added the health ministry was monitoring how many tests can be delivered by manufacturers. "We want such tests to widely available. They will be refunded at family doctor clinics, and the NFZ will pay for the testing procedure and the test itself".

Kraska was also asked at the press conference about availability of flu medicines. He informed the issue was discussed at the meeting between minister Niedzielski and representatives of pharmacists and producers.

"We are monitoring wholesaler and pharmacy stocks on an ongoing basis. According to information we receive, when it comes to antibiotics and antiviral drugs, and depending on the product, there's a 2-4-month supply at the current demand the wholesalers have at the moment for these medicines," he said.

"Of course there are places where there's a temporary shortage of a given antibiotic or antiviral drug, but we have information from the producers that they will increase supplies for our country. The medicines for the youngest are available practically everywhere, and we know that nearly half of these infections pertain to children," Kraska stressed.

Asked about free flu, Covid, and RSV test at clinics, he said that they should be available early next week. "I hope that doctors will be using these tests. It really makes diagnostics and treatment easier," the deputy health minister said, stressing that the tests would be free of charge.