Poland recorded 615 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases on July 30, the highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic in CEE’s biggest country, the health ministry said.

The new record of daily infections could be a harbinger of the second wave of the pandemic, although experts remain wary of announcing that officially. The recent spike in new coronavirus cases has created concern, however, about the negative effects of the recently relaxed rules on public gatherings and indoor activities.

The relaxed mood among the public has also been prompted by the authorities.

“In summer, viruses like the flu or the coronavirus are weaker. Much weaker,” Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on July 1, urging people to vote in the presidential election on July 12. 

The government-backed incumbent President Andrzej Duda won reelection after a campaign featuring rallies at which little to no social distancing rules or mask-wearing were visible. Rallies of his opponent Rafal Trzaskowski looked similar.

July is also the month of increased tourist activity in Poland, with swarms of people reported in the country’s popular destinations in the mountains and at the seaside.
 
The total number of cases in Poland is now at 45,031, including 1,709 deaths. 

There are currently virtually no restrictions countrywide on people gathering in public and the rules for indoor events were recently loosened. The government hinted on July 30 it might restore some curbs but ruled out reintroducing lockdown as in March and April.

Poland’s GDP is expected to shrink around 4% in 2020 in the wake of the pandemic. The government’s anti-crisis programme, worth around 13% of GDP, has lessened the extent of the crisis. The diversity of the Polish economy was also a positive factor.