Prime minister: we should brace for difficult scenarios

PM Morawiecki said at a press conference on Tuesday that the decreasing trend in COVID infections could soon be reversed. "We should brace for difficult scenarios".

"We have way less infections, way less deaths. Poles are a bit distracted by this good situation. I must clearly state that such distraction is not good" - the prime minister said. He stressed that people should remain extremely cautious. "Today, we were discussing what else can be done apart from vaccinations" - he explained.

"We've decided to keep part of the temporary hospitals" - Morawiecki said.

"We're adjusting the infrastructure so that it's ready for a potential fourth wave" - said the head of the cabinet. He added that at the Tuesday's meeting experts presented a number of worst-case scenarios for the autumn. "Some analyses indicated that there might be several thousand infections daily" - he said.

The prime minister also warned against the spread of the Delta variant and newer variants that have been detected recently across the globe.

Poland could face around 15,000 cases a day if too few people get COVID-19 shots before a potential fourth wave in autumn, the health minister said on Tuesday, amid concern about the slowing pace of vaccination.

With daily case numbers hovering around 100 a day, Poland has yet to experience the surge in infections associated with the Delta coronavirus variant in other countries.

However, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski warned that Poland, where almost all restrictions have been lifted and people have been enjoying a relatively care-free summer, could face almost 15,000 cases a day in the autumn.

To stem any complacency, he urged people who have not yet got a jab to do so.

"Most forecasts agree on the fact that at the turn of September and October, or November, we may have to deal with another acceleration and we must treat that as the most likely scenario," he told a news conference.

He said that if there was a high rate of vaccination, the numbers could be hemmed in at 1,000-2,000 cases during a fourth wave.

At the height of the third wave in the spring, daily infection numbers in Poland exceeded 35,000.

Poland, a country of around 38 million, has so far fully vaccinated just over 14 million people.

In total, the country has reported 2,880,403 cases of the coronavirus and 75,095 deaths.