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Polish Health Minister Adam Nedzelski said that, for the first time in Poland, an infection with the mutated coronavirus was detected in South Africa, and currently around 10 percent. Reported COVID-19 cases include infections with a “British” strain of the virus.
“It just came to our attention then. It is up to us where the peak of this third wave will be. (…) Responsible behavior is the key,” said A. Niedzielskis.
The Czech Republic, one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus in the European Union, has tightened its restrictions to detect an increasing number of infections with the ‘British’ strain of the virus. The government said the deteriorating situation had forced it to abandon plans to open all stores next week.
The situation in neighboring Slovakia is also bad. With the rise in the “British” strain of infections, the country has become the world leader in per capita deaths of COVID-19 patients.
The number of patients treated in hospitals was a record 3,900 on Thursday, forcing the country’s leaders to seek help from neighboring countries. So far Austria, Poland and Hungary have agreed to help and send medical personnel.
At that time, the infection began to spread again in Hungary earlier this month, although there has been a decline in new cases and deaths since December. Although the country received the first shipments of vaccines made in Russia and China, a new wave of the virus is feared.
“We are clearly in the growth phase of the third wave,” the country’s chief medical officer, Cecilia Muller, told a news conference on Friday.
Czech Health Minister Jan Blatny said residents will also need to wear better quality masks in places where large numbers of people congregate, including shops, hospitals and public transport.
According to him, the cloth masks that most people currently wear will no longer be suitable: they will have to wear masks that meet medical standards, respirators, or two conventional surgical masks.
“We agreed that it was necessary to do everything possible to prevent the infection from spreading,” Blatny said.
In Poland, discussions have also started on whether better quality masks should be required. The Health Minister said it was a recommendation so far, but the government is urging the abandonment of scarves or plastic face shields.
In Central Europe, there were few infections at the beginning of the pandemic a year ago, but both new cases and deaths began to increase dramatically in the fall of 2020.
The worst affected Czech counties on the border with Poland and Germany are subject to strict quarantine. In the last seven days, the number of new diseases here reaches around a thousand cases per 100 thousand. population.
Additional measures will be decided in the country over the weekend, including the introduction of a strict quarantine in more Czech counties. The government is considering making COVID-19 testing mandatory for everyone who works from home.
Furthermore, Czech authorities are working to implement a plan to partially open schools, starting with graduates, who could reconnect with education from the beginning of March. Students must be assessed regularly, with the necessary tools provided by the government. Meanwhile, teachers will be vaccinated in order of priority.
In some Czech hospitals, the situation has recently become critical, forcing them to transfer COVID-19 patients to other medical facilities in the country. A record number of patients, more than 1,200, were treated in intensive care units this week. all beds in these compartments are free.
Officials in Germany also warn that the recent decline in the number of new infections could start to rise again.
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