Poland’s President Andrzej Duda tests positive for Covid-19
President of Poland Andrzej Duda has tested positive for Covid.
Writing on Twitter, his spokesman confirmed the 48-year-old conservative leader had contracted the virus but that he is feeling well and is in isolation.
Duda's diagnosis comes amid a huge surge in Covid cases and deaths in Poland - a nation that saw only very low numbers in the spring.
The spiking infection rates in the country are pushing its strained health system to breaking point, with doctors warning patients are now dying not only from Covid, but from other illnesses that overwhelmed hospitals are not able to treat now.
The government is preparing to open field hospitals but it is not sure where it will find the doctors and nurses to staff them.
President Duda visited the National Stadium in Warsaw a day before he tested positive and also met with Iga Swiatek - the 19-year-old Polish tennis player who won the French Open earlier this month.
The Polish government imposed new restrictions on Saturday that are just short of a lockdown in hopes of bringing the country's outbreak under control.
It comes as the nation of 38 million hit another daily record of new infections, over 13,600, with 153 new deaths.
Overall, Poland has recorded 4,172 virus-related deaths in the pandemic.