Government to propose rules for gradual reopening of economy this week

The prime minister has said the government is examining the possibility of loosening lockdown restrictions as the number of people in hospital and on ventilators continues to decline.

Mateusz Morawiecki, during a visit to a medical distribution centre in Zabrze, southern Poland, said just what decisions are made depend on whether Covid-19 infection figures continue to fall.

"We're monitoring the decline in occupied beds and ventilators,” he said. “This is a good sign, and we will want to present some new regulations to reactivate the economy in a delicate, surgical way, step by step. Right now we're taking a closer look at how to loosen restrictions in some places."

But he warned what was happening in other countries was still a cause for concern, and therefore any reopening of the economy would have to follow a strict sanitary regime.

The prime minister also said he was pressing the European Commission to speed up vaccine supplies, and that the vaccination pace would probably improve over the coming months.

He added that the government has prolonged a non-reimbursable line of credit for pandemic-affected small businesses to help them through the lockdown. He also announced further government aid for the economy would be released in the coming weeks.