President Duda: "I have decided not to organize large meetings in relation to my campaign"

I have decided not to organize large meetings in relation to my presidential campaign; these are the meetings that attract hundreds of people. I don’t want to put people who come to these meetings at risk

— said President Andrzej Duda on Monday after the meeting at the National Security Bureau (BBN).

President Andrzej Duda met at the BBN with among others Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski and Chief Sanitary Inspector Jarosław Pinkas.

We talked about the current situation as regards the development of the danger associated with the appearance of coronavirus on our territory. Unfortunately, there are still more cases (…) of the coronavirus today

— said the president. He added that it is very likely that there will be many more sick people.

The President informed that due to the coronavirus threat, he would not organise large meetings in the election campaign.

I have decided not to organize these large meetings in relation to my presidential campaign, because they attract hundreds of people. I am very grateful for that, but anyway (…) it seems to me that the risk of the coronavirus spreading through it is too great. I don’t want to expose the people who come to these meetings to the risk

— stressed the president.

The President said at a press briefing that the situation regarding coronavirus in Poland is „relatively controlled”.

In our country the situation is relatively controlled anyway, because we have managed to identify all sources, including the so-called patient zero. But the situation is indeed difficult and there are many elements that are very difficult to predict. There are a lot of people under quarantine; it is very important to follow the rules of this quarantine

— said the president.

He added that at the meeting in BBN the discussion was about, among others, what countermeasures should be taken to limit further spread of coronavirus as much as possible.

I made it very clear to the Prime Minister that we have to take such decisive actions that will protect the citizens

— said Duda.

I’m glad, because we can say that compared to other countries, we are always a step ahead, and this shows that we also anticipate all kinds of dangers that may occur here

— he said.

Andrzej Duda pointed out that if it turns out that the disease will occur on a mass scale, it is known that it will mean a very difficult situation. Hence, he explained, the appeals and requests for caution.

He assured that the services and authorities are trying to „think ahead”. They also analyze what is happening in other countries, what mistakes have been made there, which later resulted in an increase in the incidence of disease.

Tłum. K.J.