Poland will lift most of its remaining coronavirus restrictions on March 1, but it will keep in place a mask mandate for public transportation and indoor venues.
“We’re abolishing most of the restrictions and leaving only those that are most necessary,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said to reporters on Wednesday, adding that office workers would no longer be required to work remotely.
Deaths and hospitalizations, mainly fueled by the Omicron variant, have been lower than anticipated, Mr. Morawiecki said. While the pandemic was not over, he added, the encouraging trends made the risk of shifting to an endemic approach to the virus worthwhile.
The move is a turnaround for the Eastern European nation, which was among a handful of countries in the region that were hit especially hard by earlier variants. Last spring, Poland reported some of highest excess death rates in Europe.
To curb the spread of Omicron-driven infections, Poland stepped up its testing efforts and instated remote learning for some students.
On Wednesday, officials said the country reported 20,456 new coronavirus cases, a 30 percent drop from the previous week, and 360 deaths. A majority of those deaths were people who had not been fully vaccinated, Polish health officials said.
According to a New York Times tracker, about 58 percent of the country’s population is fully vaccinated.
Poland is the latest in an increasing lineup of European countries that have announced intentions to scrap coronavirus rules after a long winter that saw Omicron drive new waves of infections across the continent.
England said this week that it planned to remove its remaining legal curbs and end free coronavirus testing. And Germany announced this month that it would abolish most of the country’s remaining restrictions by March 20.
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