Poland’s government has confirmed that it may accelerate the easing of restrictions on certain sectors, including fitness centres and gyms, if COVID-19 infection numbers remain low this week.
The country is gradually removing certain restrictions this month, in accordance with a timetable set out in April. The youngest three years of school have returned to in-person learning, hotels reopened on Saturday, and from this weekend masks will not longer be required in outdoor public spaces.
Further reopenings are planned for this weekend – including outdoor dining, sports and other events – but the fitness sector is expected to have to wait until 29 May for restrictions to be loosened. However, that date could be brought forward as infections continue to fall rapidly.
Speaking to Onet, health ministry spokesman Wojciech Andrusiewicz confirmed that it was possible certain sectors would be reopened earlier than planned, saying that everything depended on this week’s data on new coronavirus cases.
“Today we are at a daily average around 4,100 infections, which is very low,” said Andrusiewicz. “Just a few weeks ago we were recording 35,000 infections on average per day.”
“If we are still following this trend, of course acceleration of certain aspects of loosening [of restrictions] is possible,” he added, noting that in the last day a drop in infections of around 20% had been recorded.
But Andrusiewicz said that he “did not want to promise” that this might mean fitness centres being reopened earlier, as it might instead concern other sectors of the economy.
He pointed out that users of gyms and fitness studios come into close contact and risk of transmission is therefore high, but assured that “we will certainly consider whether it is possible to move certain dates for easing of restrictions”.
In an ordinance published on Friday, the government confirmed that such centres, as well as swimming pools, would be allowed to open from 29 May with a limit of one person per 15 square metres.
Also from 29 May, restaurants are expected to be allowed to serve meals indoors and cinemas and theatres to open (all up to 50% capacity), while private indoor events such as weddings will also be permitted up to 50 participants.
Hotels are currently allowed to open at maximum 50% occupancy (though their restaurants and spa/wellness facilities remain closed).
From 15 May, restaurants will be allowed to serve food outside, with obligatory mask wearing for staff as well as guests taking their seats. Outdoor cinemas and theatres may also operate with up to 50% occupancy and audiences will be allowed at outdoor sports events up to 25% of capacity.
Poland’s average daily number of coronavirus infections has fallen sharply since the peak of the third wave around the beginning of April, when the rolling seven-day average was almost 29,000. Numbers of deaths, which lag behind new infections, have also been falling but remain relatively high.
The health ministry today announced a daily number of just under 2,000 new COVID-19 cases. Almost 16,000 Covid beds and just over 2,000 ventilators are now occupied in hospitals, continuing steady decreases of peaks of nearly 35,000 and more than 3,500 respectively in mid-April.
Poland’s vaccine rollout has also been gaining pace, with Friday seeing the highest ever daily number of vaccines administered, 413,980. Almost 10% of the country’s popular are now fully vaccinated, slightly below the EU average.
Main image credit: Kyle Wagaman/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
