WARSAW (Europe) – The Polish government said on Friday schools and kindergartens would remain closed until May 24 because of the coronavirus and said a second wave of infections could lie ahead.
Poland was among the first countries in Europe last month to impose strict lockdown measures to contain the outbreak, and has reported relatively few deaths from the COVID-19 respiratory disease that the coronavirus can cause.
It has started to ease restrictions on some activities to try to limit the damage to its economy, the biggest in Central Europe.
Parks and forests reoponed this week and more people are now allowed in shops at one time. The government has said it may reopen hotels in May and some media have suggested shopping malls could be also be reopened.
But the government resisted pressure to reopen schools immediately, even though economists from Citibank Handlowy said in April that every month of schools remaining closed cut Poland’s economic growth by 0.1-0.3%.
Government forecasters expect the economy to contract by between 1% and 4.5% this year, Poland’s first recession since communist rule ended in 1989.
Asked about the onset of the annual flu season in the autumn, Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski told reporters there was no data to suggest COVID 19 would disappear by then.
“We will struggle with two diseases and double the (usual) number of patients. It could be a difficult period,” he said.
By Friday, the European Union member state of 38 million had reported 10,759 cases and 463 deaths.
But the government has defied pressure to postpone a presidential election scheduled for May 10, though critics accuse it putting political interests ahead of public health.
President Andrzej Duda, an ally of Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, is set to win re-election by a landslide in May, two opinion polls showed on Thursday.
(Photo syndicated via Reuters)