Polish schools to open as planned despite record rise in daily COVID-19 cases
The Health Ministry of Poland on Friday reported 903 new cases in past 24 hours, a new record, raising the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 60,281.
It followed weeks of steady increase in daily new cases from between 300 and 400 in June and July to over 500 in August so far. Totally 1,938 people have died from the COVID-19 in Poland, official statistics showed.
The Polish Ministry of Education has announced that it will go ahead with plans to reopen schools on Sept. 1, warning parents unwilling to send their children to classes that they will face fines.
Schools will follow the sanitary instruction drafted by the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate (GIS) to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
“If the epidemic situation endangers the health of our students, principals will have the means to organize classes appropriately,” the Education Ministry spokesperson Anna Ostrowska told Polish media,
“They can introduce a variety of teaching programs, after gaining advice from GIS and executive authorities. They can organize online or partly online classes.”
