WARSAW (Reuters) – Some Polish doctors and nurses are just taking naps between shifts as they fight a third wave of the coronavirus, the health minister said Friday, amid reports from medical personnel using oxygen and intravenous drops to treat their boost energy.
The country of 38 million, the largest in the eastern wing of the European Union, reported 768 deaths from the coronavirus on Friday, after the death toll hit a new high of 954 on Thursday.
“This is indeed a war and the situation requires non-standard behavior,” he told private radio RMF 24.
“These are the most difficult, the most difficult pictures that reflect the burden of this work,” said Niedzielski when asked to comment on the use of drops and oxygen by some doctors to regain strength.
“When I visited a temporary hospital in Katowice, I saw doctors and nurses sleeping between shifts to rest. The intensity of the work is significant, due to the shortage of personnel, ”said Niedzielski.
Poland reported a record number of new cases last week at about 35,000 a day and Wednesday the government extended the restrictions until April 18, closing kindergartens, schools, shopping centers, hotels, cinemas and theaters.
The previous 24-hour death record was 674, reported in November. Poland reported 28,487 new coronavirus infections on Friday, bringing the total to more than 2.5 million.
“Looking at the trend in the number of new infections, it seems that the peak of infections is behind us,” Niedzielski warned at a press conference for complacency.
“The pandemic is still a real threat and the fact that we are seeing a few minor falls is by no means a signal that would make us think we have the worst behind us … Now we will have to do it at a peak, so to speak. , in hospitals, ”he said.
Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Nick Macfie