The Polish health minister has announced a new national lockdown, to come into force on Saturday, as the government looks to slow surging infections across the country and deal with more contagious Covid-19 variants.

Speaking on Wednesday, minister Adam Niedzielski said the situation had deteriorated to such an extent in recent days that the government had been obliged to act.

"Last week, we were above 20,000 [cases per day], but the pace is not slowing down. The third wave is accelerating, and we have to take decisive steps," he stated.

[...]

Despite infection rates being higher in the north, Niedzielski said there was a clear reason for introducing measures on a national scale. The new restrictions, which come into force on Saturday, will see shopping malls, cinemas, theaters, swimming pools, and saunas being closed once again, and pupils in grades one to three returning to distance-learning until April 9, although kindergartens would remain open. The minister also advised people to work from home where possible.

He said that if these measures failed to make an impact on infection rates, a more "typical" lockdown would be enforced.

Intensive care doctors in Germany warned on Monday (Mar 15) that the country would need to make an "immediate return" to partial lockdown if it is to avoid stumbling into a dangerous third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"From the data we currently have and with the spread of the British mutation, we would argue strongly to return immediately into a lockdown to avoid a strong third wave," Christian Karagiannidis, director of Germany's intensive care register, told broadcaster RBB.

"We won't gain much from staying open for the next one or two weeks, because that will quickly bring us to a high level and make it twice as hard to push the numbers down again," said Karagiannidis, who works for the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), which tracks intensive care capacities in German hospitals.

Germany has seen a rise in cases since it began a gradual easing of coronavirus measures in late February, allowing schools, hairdressers and other businesses to partially reopen.

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