Covid-19 in Poland: reopening of terraces after more than six months of closure
Audio 01:13
In Warsaw, Poland, May 15, 2021. REUTERS - SLAWOMIR KAMINSKI
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4 min
Poland relaxes restrictions against Covid-19.
Wearing a mask is no longer compulsory outside and after more than six months of closure, the bars reopened this Saturday, May 15.
At the moment, customers can only consume on the open-air terraces.
In Warsaw, the latter were taken by storm.
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With our correspondent in Warsaw,
Damien Simonart
New World Avenue in Warsaw is aptly named.
Deserted in recent months, she suddenly comes back to life as if there had never been a pandemic.
Passers-by walk without masks, the café terraces are full.
Marija, 38, is relieved to take a step towards normality: “
I am not convinced that masks were useful in the great outdoors.
Some countries have given up on imposing them and their statistics were no worse than in Poland.
I am very happy to finally be able to breathe deeply.
"
The Polish government has relaxed
restrictions
following a significant drop in cases of contamination and an increase in the number of vaccinations. More than 15 million Poles have received at least one dose, almost half of the population. Krzysztof, 65, is one of them; but he prefers to keep his mask wherever he goes. “
I don't have confidence yet. I prefer to protect myself, he
confides.
Who knows who I will meet on the street? I'll wait another two or three weeks. I'm afraid people will slack off, take off all their masks, get together and start all over again.
"
In two weeks, if all goes well, theaters, cinemas and restaurants will be able to accommodate a limited number of customers.
A date eagerly awaited by managers whose establishments are financially on the brink of collapse.
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