Poland expects COVID cases to rise as Delta variant spreads

After weeks of low infection rates, Poland faces growing numbers of new coronavirus cases as the Delta variant spreads, the health ministry said.

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.

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.

Photo: People walk at a pier during the coronavirus pandemic in Sopot, southern coast of the Baltic Sea, nothern Poland. EPA-EFE/ADAM WARZAWA