European country declares ‘beginning of the end’ of Covid pandemic
The end of the global pandemic is now in sight, Poland’s Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Wednesday, expressing hope that the country will soon begin to return to normal life.
Speaking at a press conference, the minister said that in February he expects a significant decrease in infections, which, in turn, will lower the risk of the healthcare system becoming overwhelmed. If this is the case, in March the government would be in a position to ease restrictions so the country can enter “normal operating mode” in the spring.
“From my point of view, and as often as I have been a pessimist, I am now optimist: we have the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” Niedzielski said.
Admitting that “this is a very serious declaration,” he explained that his opinion was based on “the characteristics of the pandemic in other countries,” where the fifth wave of Covid had peaked earlier, than in Poland. As those countries are already lifting restrictions, it is likely that the same scenario awaits Poland, the health minister claimed.
In January, the country’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, expressed hope that the Covid wave caused by the Omicron variant would be the last one, as some experts suggest. He also pledged to transform his Covid-19 advisory board into a Covid council, tasked not only with combatting the virus but also with developing a strategy of recovery from the pandemic.
The number of active cases in Poland has been decreasing for several days in a row, but slightly increased on February 9. More than 757,000 people are currently infected with Covid in the country.
