Poland to increase COVID-19 hospital capacity to deal with looming Omicron surge

Warsaw (Poland), January 6: Poland's Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said here on Wednesday that his country is preparing to increase the number of hospital beds reserved for COVID-19 patients from 31,000 today to at least 40,000 - or 60,000 in the worst-case scenario - in light of the surging cases caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant.
The Polish government expects Omicron to become the dominant strain in the country, he said, but for now, it sees no need to introduce new restrictions.
"Over the past five to six days, we have been witnessing a constant surge in infections," Niedzielski said, but adding that the situation is being treated as an exceptional following holiday rather than a change of trend.
While the Omicron variant is more contagious than the previously identified coronavirus variants, the illnesses caused by it tend to be slightly less serious, he noted.
On Wednesday, Poland reported 17,196 new coronavirus infections and 632 deaths linked to COVID-19. In total, 4,162,715 cases have been reported in Poland since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Coronavirus has claimed 98,666 lives in the country.
Source: Xinhua