We decided to introduce an epidemic emergency. We introduce full controls on all Polish borders. ” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced. In addition to this, Polish citizens will be directed to a 14-day quarantine after crossing the border.
In a press conference, the Polish Prime Minister announced drastic measures including the closure of the number of business activities permissible and also the introduction of obligatory quarantine.
They will not be left without help, announced Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
During the night between Saturday to Sunday international air and rail connections are suspended.
“We will keep charters because of Poles. There are people who finish their holidays, they are somewhere on holidays, so they must return to the country. Each of them will undergo separate procedures” said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
He said “we were the first to limit mass events, close schools, and introduce sanitary border controls. Other EU countries followed us. We want to learn from their mistakes.”
The borders remain open to the flow of goods. There is no fear that there will be no food, Poland is one of the largest food producers. We have a very large surplus and you can see that there was absolutely no need to panic about shopping and buying goods in a short time.
“We are entering a new phase in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic,’ said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki while announcing the new measures, which are introduced on the basis of the state of epidemic emergency introduced yesterday.
Morawiecki admitted that they will “change the lives of millions of Poles”. They are, however, “needed to protect us against the very dangerous and unknown effects of the coronavirus pandemic” and to allow “Poland to get through this pandemic in a safer way than most European countries”.
Justifying the ban on entry of foreigners and suspension of international travel, the prime minister noted that most cases of the virus discovered in Poland so far were “imported” from abroad. “We do not want the coronavirus to reach us again in large waves,” he said.
Poland has become the last country to shut its borders in a bid to contain the spread of the CoVid-19 pandemic.
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Earlier, Slovakia announced that it would be closing off its borders to all foreigners, except citizens of Poland. An Interior Ministry spokesperson stated that “no foreign citizens will be allowed to enter Slovakia”, adding “at the border crossings with Poland, only Polish citizens will be allowed to enter the country.” At the time of the announcement, Slovakia had 21 reported Cases of the Coronavirus.
The Czech Republic announced they will be banning entry to travellers coming from Germany and Austria as well as foreigners travelling from the countries most affected by the outbreak, which are:
- Italy
- Sweden
- France
- The Netherlands
- Belgium
- Spain
- Denmark
- Britain
- Norway
- Switzerland
The Czech travel ban also applies to non-European countries China, South Korea and Iran.
According to PM Andrej Babis, Czech citizens are also restricted from travelling to the highest affected countries.
At the time of the ban, the Czech Republic had 120 active cases of the Coronavirus.
Malta
Malta will only be restricting border crossings to Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland, which report the highest number of Coronavirus cases, according to Malta PM Robert Abela. Abela claimed, “The decision has been taken on the advice of the medical authorities because of the sharp increase in the spread of the virus.” At the time of the restriction, Malta had 12 reported cases of the Coronavirus.
This decision was criticized by EU President Ursula von der Leyen, who said, “The single market has to function. It is not good when member states take unilateral action because it always causes a domino effect and that prevents urgently-needed medical equipment from reaching patients and hospitals. It amounts to the reintroduction of internal borders at a time when solidarity between member states is needed.”
As of March 13, nearly all European countries now have reported cases of the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The highest concentration of infections is in Italy, which has over 15,000 cases and rapidly growing. Following Italy are Spain (4,000+ cases), Germany (3,100+ cases), France (2,800+ cases), and Switzerland (1,100+ cases).
