The health minister announces covid tests in pharmacies and calls for a remote job

The latest report is one of the highest results since the start of the pandemic - a record number of new cases to date was recorded in the Spring Wave, March 25, 2021 (34,151). On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health informed about 19,600 infections, and a week ago on Wednesday there were just over 16,000 - the week-on-week increase exceeded 90 percent. - This result is greater than the statistics monitored during the fourth wave in the fall of last year - commented Niedzielski, adding that the number of orders for further tests for the detection of Sars-CoV-2 is growing very dynamically. "These are gains we haven't seen before," he said.

The minister expects the number of new cases to reach 50,000 next week. - This is a situation that poses a huge risk to health care efficiency, he assessed. - This scenario, which is being implemented, is a very dangerous scenario. Our health care system is able to handle 40 thousand. infected with COVID-19, he said. At the moment, just over 14,000 are hospitalized.

The number of hospitalizations is intended to be a measure of government action (not the number of infections). For now, however, we cannot expect more decisive action. The ongoing winter holidays (the first voivodeships started them on Monday) are, according to the government, beneficial for preventing the pandemic. The only activity is for remote work. - We are introducing, where possible, a transition to remote work in public administration - said Adam Niedzielski. The regulation on this issue is expected to be published very soon, and the minister also called on other employers to consider switching to remote work wherever possible.

- When it comes to pre-hospital care, this wave will be characterized by relatively less pressure on hospitality - assumes Adam Niedzielski, using observations from other countries where Omikron has been in power for some time. This assumption may be wrong, as Poland differs significantly from Western European countries (where the number of hospitalizations and deaths has also increased) in terms of the level of vaccination: even in Portugal, which is a record-breaking well-vaccinated country, the number of deaths is the highest since spring (significantly higher than in autumn, hardly felt Delta wave).

The minister also announced new solutions. First of all, "in a certain age group", GPs will be required to make a personal visit and direct examination of a patient with COVID-19. This is to be controlled by: the National Health Fund and the bodies of the Patient Ombudsman. - We will respond to any limitation in the availability of services on the part of POZ - announced the minister.

The second solution is to "increase the universality of testing" by enabling tests to be performed in pharmacies. Of course, antigen tests would be introduced into the system (as opposed to the results of tests performed for personal use, bought in pharmacies or supermarkets and on the Internet).

Adam Niedzielski also announced that on January 24, EMA will recommend the third dose for adolescents (12-17 years old). Then the decision has to be made by the European Commission. - We will launch such a possibility within two or three days - assured the head of the Ministry of Health. The ministry predicts that the possibility of giving the booster to minors will appear at the end of next week.