The Polish government has announced the lifting of further coronavirus restrictions from this Sunday. Indoor play facilities for children will reopen, trade fairs can again be organised, and limits on numbers at private events are to be eased. Spontaneous public gatherings will, however, still be banned.
The changes follow a continued fall in coronavirus infections, which have dropped to their lowest levels since early last autumn. As a result, the majority of restrictions were already loosened in May, including the return of children to school and the resumption of indoor and outdoor dining.
“The level of liberalisation of restrictions in Poland is very high compared to Europe,” said Adam Niedzielski, the health minister, quoted by Onet. “This systematic easing over [the last] month and a half has not had negative effects in the form of acceleration of the pandemic.”
As such, the latest round of loosening will be introduced this Sunday, 6 June, Niedzielski announced this morning. The new rules include:
- Trade fairs and exhibitions can be organised (with sanitary measures in place and a limit of one person per 15 m2)
- Indoor playrooms for children can reopen (with sanitary measures in place and a limit of one person per 15 m2)
- Organised events and gatherings can have up to 150 guests (an increase from the current limit of 50)
- Occupancy on public transport is increased to 75% (with covering of nose and mouth with a mask still required)
As before, people who have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus do not count towards attendance limits. Niedzielski announced today that from 10 June the government plans to introduce a standardised system for confirming someone’s vaccination status.
⚠️ Wprowadzamy dalsze luzowanie obostrzeń. Zmiany wchodzą od 6 czerwca. ⤵️⤵️⤵️ pic.twitter.com/9gGXRoKLi5
— Ministerstwo Zdrowia (@MZ_GOV_PL) June 2, 2021
The organisation of spontaneous gatherings remains forbidden, while nightclubs must also remain closed. It is likely that on 7 June, this coming Monday, details will be announced about the next stages of lifting restrictions over the summer, reports Gazeta.pl.
Poland’s rolling weekly average of daily coronavirus infections fell to 912 today, its lowest level since last September. The same figure for deaths stands at 97, the first time it has fallen below 100 since October.
As of this morning, Poland had administered over 20.5 million coronavirus vaccines, with 7.3 million people (around 19% of the population) fully vaccinated. From Monday, children aged 12 and above will be able to receive vaccines.
Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
