Poland’s government has introduced a set of measures – including bans on flights from southern Africa, tougher quarantine rules, and new restrictions – in response to the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The decision, announced this afternoon by health minister Adam Niedzielski, comes just days after Niedzielski himself insisted that restrictions “are not a very effective means of limiting the pandemic”. He had earlier warned that introducing them would have great “social costs” and could prompt protests.
From this Wednesday, 1 December, flights from seven southern African countries – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – are banned from landing in Poland.
Unvaccinated people returning from those countries must quarantine for 14 days, with no possibility of early release.
Unvaccinated travellers arriving in Poland from other non-Schengen countries must also quarantine for 14 days but can be released with a negative PCR test taken after at least eight days after their arrival.
⚠️Od 1 grudnia wprowadzamy dodatkowe ograniczenia dla osób podróżujących z krajów non-Schengen. #koronawirus pic.twitter.com/1LtPKchyyQ
— Ministerstwo Zdrowia (@MZ_GOV_PL) November 29, 2021
Meanwhile, in Poland itself from 1 December:
- Churches, restaurants and cafes, hotels and cultural venues (such as cinemas and theatres), and sports facilities (such as swimming pools) are limited to 50% of maximum capacity (down from the current 75%)
- Public gatherings, celebrations (such as weddings) and discos can only have 100 people in attendance (down from 150 currently)
- Gyms and other fitness facilities, museums and art galleries, and casinos are limited to letting in one person per 15 square metres of space (down from one per 10 square metres currently)
- Sports events can be attended by 250 people (down from the current 500).
Fully vaccinated people do not count towards those limits.
The new restrictions have been put in place until at least 17 December.
⚠️Od 1 grudnia wprowadzamy pakiet alertowy #koronawirus. pic.twitter.com/5AeSI2G8VW
— Ministerstwo Zdrowia (@MZ_GOV_PL) November 29, 2021
Announcing the measures, Niedzielski said that they were being implemented due to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Earlier today, he called the new strain a “game changer” that “fundamentally changes” the government’s approach.
Covid infections and deaths have been rising rapidly since early October, with Niedzielski saying earlier this month that they could soon reach their highest ever level. But he and other ministers have argued against new restrictions, calling them unnecessary and even counterproductive.
Last week, Niedzielski said that the healthcare system was much better prepared for the pandemic than it was in 2020, when Poland suffered the EU’s highest excess death rate. He also noted that the deployment of vaccines had reduced hospitalisations compared to last year.
This morning, however, Niedzielski admitted in an interview with Radio Plus that “hospitals are full” and “we are in a difficult situation”.
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.
