The pandemic has been with us for over two years. During this time, we had to implement rules that involved changes in life and habits. Today, after many medical consultations and observing what is happening in many European countries, we can see that far-reaching changes can be recommended and a significant part of the restrictions lifted, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. From March 1, the government will lift most of the restrictions - will remain those regarding isolation and wearing masks in public places.
During the conference, the Prime Minister said that the changes had been consulted with the COVID-19 Council.A limitation that will remain for a long time will be the obligation to wear masks.
Changes in restrictions from March 1
Other changes will come into force on March 1. As Mateusz Morawiecki said: - We are limiting all the restrictions that have been in force until today. It will still be obligatory to wear masks in public spaces: in communication, in shops. We restore normal work in offices where remote work was in force. We abolish this recommendation, offices are resuming normal functioning. We maintain isolation and quarantine for co-household members, but within this shortened scope - i.e. 7 days. We will also gradually move away from the remaining restrictions. He also emphasized the importance of vaccinations to protect against deaths and the severe course of COVID-19.
The Minister of He alth, Adam Niedzielski, emphasized thatthose restrictions related to the freedom of economic life are now being lifted.He added that European countries where the pandemic was similar, and infections or mortality were higher than in Poland.
- Since March 1, we have been lifting most of the restrictions that are economic in nature. In fact,only those restrictions remain - I'm talking about masks, about isolation, about quarantine - which are purely epidemic, related to maintaining the criterion of limiting the transmission of the virus- said Niedzielski.
- These are of course also restrictions that we will decide to lift in the coming weeks or months - we always consult these decisions with specialists, in this case it is about the Covid Council, which operates in a new formula. Yesterday a meeting was held and we discussed, inter alia, on this topic -informed the Minister of He alth.
- We have a continuation of downward trends all the time, regardless of the fact that some cases are outside the system - said Adam Niedzielski. He added that there are currently an average of 20,000 in Poland. infections per day, and in recent weeks we have seen drops of 30%. infections week to week. The number of hospitalizations is also decreasing, on average by about 350 a day.
- The risk, which we considered very high at the beginning of January, can now be considered relatively low - said Adam Niedzielski. In his opinion, another argument in favor of lifting the restrictions is the degree of immunity in the population, i.e. the scale of COVID-19 disease. - We have observed a very significant increase in the degree of immunization - said Adam Niedzielski. He added that the data from the end of last year indicate that it is 90 percent.
As Prime Minister Morawiecki said, the limits on the number of people in public places are also being lifted - just like in the European Union countries. This is also the recommendation of the COVID-19 Council. - After the discussion with its members, the image that the minister recalled emerges. The omicron is much less dangerous than the delta. We do it in a balanced, reasonable and humble manner, in order to take into account the capricious nature of the virus, said the Prime Minister.
Priority to defrosting the he alth service
At the moment, the defrosting of the he alth service is becoming a priority, said the Minister of He alth. - The course of action will be to increase accessibility to the ordinary he alth care system. He noted that "when it comes to the scale of infections in the coming weeks or months, we can say that we are more or less at the level of the flu peak". - This is an important argument, because a certain goal of our epidemic policy is also to reduce the covid infection to the characteristics of the type of phenomenon we deal with in the case of seasonal flu. - he added.
Niedzielski emphasized that "defrosting the he alth service is slowly becoming a priority at the moment". - The priority of actions will be to increase the accessibility to the ordinary he alth care system, because making up for this he alth debt, which has accumulated throughout the pandemic, will be a he alth priority - he stressed.
When is the end of the masks?
When will we say goodbye to the masks in a confined space?Answering this question, Adam Niedzielski explained that the decision had not been made so far mainly due to the fact that she returned this week stationary learning. - We want to see what the epidemic situation will look like in the coming weeks. I will not give a datebut we will observe trends related to the return of children to school and decisions will be made on this basis - summed up Adam Niedzielski.