Letter from... Warsaw

By Barbara Czerniawska, Director, Martis Consulting (Part of SEC Newgate)

Days and weeks are passing by amidst the lockdown. It's hard to believe that we have worked remotely for almost two months! The restart of Polish economy is underway, but there are more and more doubts.

The social distancing is frustrating and of course very dangerous for economy. But in the opinion of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) experts, actions taken by the authorities of various countries, such as restrictions on leaving homes or the mandatory social distancing, have reduced the transmission of the virus by 45 percent since 8 April.

How does Poland compare to other EU countries? There are still too few tests conducted - approximately 10 thousand per day. By population, including of non-EU countries, it turns out that even the likes of, for example  Belarus, Venezuela and Azerbaijan conduct more tests per 1 million inhabitants than Poland is currently doing.

The experts say that the virus's spread rate in Poland has not yet fallen enough. Poland is among four countries in the EU where the number of infections remains stable. COVID-19 appeared here later than others and hence why we still have far fewer infections - by Wednesday morning (6 May) there were 14.647 confirmed cases. But the number is growing, day by day.

We can see some light at the end of the tunnel but we are certainly not there yet.