国际英语新闻:Polish gov't announces financial stimulus package, puts limits on Christmas gatherings

WARSAW, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced a new economic stimulus package on Thursday for businesses that have suffered during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The so-called Financial Shield 2.0 stimulus, estimated to be between 35 billion and 40 billion Polish Zloty (between 9 billion and 10.5 billion U.S. dollars), is aimed to help 40 sectors particularly impacted by the second wave of the COVID-19. Businesses active in, among others, transport, retail, tourism and gastronomy, can apply for funds needed to pay employees and avoid bankruptcy.

The number of daily COVID-19 cases has stabilized in the country this week, dropping below 20,000 after a single peak on Tuesday, when 32,733 new cases were confirmed over a 24-hour period. Thursday saw 16,687 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases. In total, 941,112 people have been infected by the coronavirus in the country, with 15,568 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The numbers are among the highest in Europe in terms of a proportion of the number of tests conducted.

The Polish government announced later on Thursday new restrictions for Christmas Eve, when Polish families traditionally gather. Each household will be allowed to invite a maximum of five people from outside the household for gatherings.

As the world is in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries include Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the U.S. are racing to find a vaccine.

In Poland, one candidate medication developed from the blood plasma of recovered COVID-19 patients is currently undergoing testing in the eastern town of Lublin.