Poland to ease some restrictions after Easter: deputy minister

WARSAW (Reuters) – To support its battered economy Poland, will ease some restrictions aimed at fighting the coronavirus after Easter, Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska said on Thursday.

Poland has closed schools, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and cinemas among other moves to contain the virus. Economists expect the economy to shrink 3.5% this year, triggering a sharp rise in unemployment from the current level of 5.5%.

“After Easter we will want to turn on the economy a little,” Kraska told news conference without elaborating. The ministry’s spokesman was unavailable to provide details.

By Thursday, 5,341 people had been infected with the virus, with 164 dead in the country of 38 million people.

(Reporting by Marcin Goclowski and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alison Williams)