WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland may introduce even stricter restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview published on Friday, a day after the government announced a “national quarantine” would start after Christmas.
Authorities have said a third wave of the pandemic could overwhelm Poland’s health service. They announced on Thursday that hotels, ski resorts and many shops would close from Dec. 28 till Jan. 17 in a bid to limit the number of daily cases at a time when vaccinations are getting underway.
Polish authorities have also announced a curfew for New Year’s Eve.
“We are considering introducing more extensive restrictions, also regarding movement. But they require the implementation of new legislation,” Morawiecki told the Wp.pl website.
Addressing the state of the nation’s finances, badly pummeled by the pandemic, Morawiecki said the budget deficit at the end of November was 13.2 billion zlotys ($3.64 billion), and for the whole year it would be less than 100 billion zlotys.
The revised 2020 budget forecasts a deficit of just over 109 billion zlotys.
“We have a considerable buffer,” Morawiecki said. “We will pre-finance some of the expenses for 2021.”
($1 = 3.6300 zlotys)
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Gareth Jones)
