Warsaw, Oct 19 (AP) Poland's government is transforming the National Stadium in Warsaw into a field hospital to handle the surging number of patients infecting with the coronavirus.

The stadium, with a seating capacity of over 58,500, was constructed to host matches for the Euro 2012 soccer championship.

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Government spokesman Piotr Müller said Monday the stadium will have room for 500 patients and will be equipped with oxygen therapy.

“We can see that the number of cases is growing so fast that we need to secure places for hospitalization for those who need it,” Müller said, speaking on TVP Info, state TV's all-news channel.

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However, it was unclear how the government would staff the hospital given widespread reports of shortages of doctors and other medical officials across the country.

Poland experienced very low rates of infection in the spring compared to western European countries but is now witnessing an exponential surge of coronavirus infections.

On Monday, the Health Ministry recorded 7,482 new coronavirus infections over the previous day and 41 deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, the nation of 38 million has recorded 183,248 and 3,614 deaths. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)