The Polish government is turning the National Stadium in Warsaw – Poland’s biggest arena – into a field hospital following a rapid rise in coronavirus cases that has left the health system struggling. Similar emergency facilities are to be established in other parts of the country.
The news has not yet been officially confirmed, but was reported independently by two major media outlets this evening – TVN24, a broadcaster, and Wirtualna Polska, a news website – both of which cite unnamed individuals involved in the undertaking.
Earlier this week, the health minister, Adam Niedzielski, publicly confirmed that plans were being discussed to create field hospitals.
Notes from Poland report “according to both TVN and Wirtualna Polska, work on the project is being overseen by the head of the prime minister’s office, Michał Dworczyk. The hospital could open as early as this week, with an initial 500 beds, before continuing to expand further.
“This results from our strategy,” an individual associated with the prime minister’s office tells Wirtualna Polska. “As soon as hospitals are running out of beds, field hospitals will be launched.”
