Poland today reported no Covid-related deaths for the first time since 27 March 2020. Although the lowest infection and death figures each week are generally reported on Mondays, the new data continue a downward trend since Poland reached the peak of its third coronavirus wave in April this year.
In its daily figures released this morning, the health ministry said that no people had died directly as a result of COVID-19 or who were infected with the virus as well as suffering from other illnesses. It also reported just 52 new cases of coronavirus, which is also the lowest daily number since March 2020.
Last year, after suffering a severe second wave of the virus in the autumn, Poland recorded the highest excess death rate in the European Union, with over 20% more people dying than the recent annual average.
The highest daily number of deaths reported in Poland, 954, came on 8 April this year, although this is likely to have been caused partly by delayed reporting after the Easter weekend. The seven-day average of deaths peaked at just over 600 shortly afterwards, but has since been falling steadily.
Average daily confirmed new case numbers reached a peak of almost 29,000 on 31 March, before declining rapidly, dropping below 1,000 a month ago and currently standing at 122.
Yesterday, health minister Niedzielski tweeted a summary of the COVID-19 situation in Poland in that time, noting the continuing decline despite the loosening of most restrictions and concerns over the effect of new variants.
Właśnie mija miesiąc odkąd liczba nowych dziennych zakażeń spadła poniżej 1 tys. Trend cały czas malejący. Nadal ani wzrost mobilności ani nowe mutacje nie powodują zwiększenia liczby zakażeń. pic.twitter.com/2pnsVxLVkz
— Adam Niedzielski (@a_niedzielski) June 27, 2021
The government began loosening restrictions in mid-April and has since then continued to ease curbs on attendance at cultural and leisure facilities, as well as allowing all school children to return to in-person teaching.
At the same time, the country has been continuing to roll out its COVID-19 vaccination programme. Everyone aged 12 or over is now eligible to register for a jab, although there have been concerns at the high percentage of people unwilling to do so.
Poland had administrated almost 28.5 million doses as of this morning. Around 44% of the total population have received at least one shot, and over 33% are fully vaccinated, slightly above the EU average of 31%.
Main image credit: Adam Guz/KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
