The Polish Government have today (29/11/21) announced that they will be imposing a so-called ‘Alert Package’ (pakiet alertowy) of Covid restrictions in response to the current ‘4th wave’ and the new Omicron variant.
The Government have made the decision to impose the following restrictions, which will be in place until 17th December:–
Border Control – Southern African Arrivals
Flights arriving from seven South African countries; Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – will be banned from landing in Poland.
Travellers returning from these countries will have an extended 14 day quarantine (currently 10 days), and will not be able to rely on a COVID test to release them from quarantine
Non-Schengen Arrivals
It was also announced that quarantine would be extended for unvaccinated people arriving from non-Schengen countries, for eight days, at which time they may be released from quarantine should they pass a Covid test.
National Restrictions
- Churches, restaurants, cafes, gastronomy, hotels, entertainment venues (cinemas, concerts, theatres etc), and sports facilities (swimming pools, aqua parks etc.) will be limited to a maximum of 50% capacity (currently 75%)
- Public gatherings, celebrations (weddings, christenings etc), discos etc. will be restricted to 100 attendees (currently 150)
- Gyms, fitness facilities, museums, art galleries, cultural venues, and casinos will be restricted to one person per 15m2 (currently one person 10m2)
- Sports events will be restricted to 250 attendees (currently 500).
Vaccinated people are not included in the above figures.
The Polish Health minister, Adam Niedzielski stated that Poland is currently ‘”somewhere at the height of the fourth wave”, he referred to the new Omicron variant as a ‘game changer’ which may accelerate the development of the pandemic in Poland, and added :-
“You should be aware that if the situation worsens rapidly, decisions can of course be made overnight, but at the moment these regulations will apply from 1 to 17 December. We give ourselves a two-week time to complete information related to the new mutation, but we also want to see if in this period we are able to reduce the wave we have with this type of tools” says Minister Niedzielski.
A Scot in Kraków. The founder and editor of Kraków Expats Directory, and our sister sites Kraków TV and Kraków Stories Podcast.
David fell in love with Kraków 24 years ago, making it his home in 2011.
In 2020 he was awarded the title of Kraków’s Ambassador of Multiculturalism, by the President of Kraków, and is also a member of the GlobalScot network, representing Scottish culture and business abroad.
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