Health minister says next Covid wave may come at end of year

Adam Niedzielski, speaking on Radio Lublin, said if a next wave of Covid-19 comes, it will be around the turn of the year at the earliest.

The minister of health was asked on Thursday about the end of the pandemic. "If someone understands the end of the pandemic as zero cases of illnesses and new infections, we will not have such a situation for a very long time," he replied.

"If we are talking about the end of the phenomenon of ailments that block our social and economic life, we are really approaching a point where we can say that thanks to vaccinations and drugs, which are also slowly appearing, we have this situation under control," said the minister.

He emphasised that now is the best time for people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and seasonal flu and added that 22 million people in Poland had undergone the basic level of vaccination, 12 million people were vaccinated with the third dose, and 2 million people with the fourth dose so far.

According to Niedzielski, despite thousands of new infections a day, the effect on hospitals is relatively small. "Recent reports show that we have about 3,500 hospitalised throughout the country, of which only 50-60 people are on respirators," Niedzielski said.