in poland was that of a 56-year-old woman. polish authorities did not participate in the european union tender procedure for purchasing covid-19 pandemic related medical equipment, until 17 march 2020. on 10–12 march 2020 lockdown-type control measures were implemented, closing schools and university classes, offices, and cancelling mass events, and were strengthened on 25 march, limiting non-family gatherings to two people and religious gatherings to six and forbidding non-essential travel. on 20 march 2020, the ministry of health officially declared an epidemic and on the same day tried to prevent medical personnel from commenting on the pandemic. the polish ombudsman adam bodnar defended medical personnel's right to speak publicly about the epidemic on constitutional grounds of freedom of speech and the right of the public to information. doctors opposed the self-censorship orders. lockdown restrictions were tightened on 31 march 2020 by a government regulation, requiring individuals walking in streets to be separated by two metres, closing parks, boulevards, beaches, hairdressers and beauty salons, and forbidding unaccompanied minors from exiting their homes. restrictions were relaxed starting 20 april, allowing religious gatherings and funerals to be held for up to a maximum of 50 people. starting on 1 april 2020, fatalities which were clinically or epidemiologically diagnosed as covid-19 (u07.2) were also considered as covid-19 deaths by niph–nih. as of january 2022, poland has one of the world's highest covid-19 death rates per capita and a significant proportion of the population is vaccine hesitant with a vaccination rate below eu average. portugal main article: covid-19 pandemic in portugal on 2 march, the first two cases were confirmed in portugal, both in the city of porto. one was a doctor who had returned from holiday in northern italy, and the other a worker from spain. on 18 march, the president of the republic, marcelo rebelo de sousa, declared the entirety of the portuguese territory in a state of emergency for the following fifteen days, with the possibility of renewal, the first since the carnation revolution in 1974. on 24 march, the portuguese government admitted that they could not contain the covid-19 pandemic anymore, as it is wide spreading and will enter the 'mitigation phase' on 26 march. cases reached 10,000 in april, 100,000 in october and 300,000 in december. romania this section is an excerpt from covid-19 pandemic in romania. the covid-19 pandemic in romania is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). the virus was confirmed to have reached romania on 26 february 2020, when the first case in gorj county was confirmed. as of 31 january 2022, the national institute of public health has reported around 2,200,000 cases, 1,800,000 recoveries, and 60,000 covid-19-related deaths. more than 11.7 million rt-pcr tests and more than 7.3 million rapid antigen tests have been processed. an anti-covid-19 vaccination campaign, part of a global effort to slow down the spread of the virus, started on 27 december 2020. as of 27 january 2022, over 50% of the country's eligible population received at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine as part of an ongoing national vaccination campaign. as of 21 january 2023, 16,102,916 covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered in romania. russia main article: covid-19 pandemic in russia russian president vladimir putin visits coronavirus patients at moscow hospital on 24 march russia implemented early preventive measures to curb the spread of covid-19 in the country by imposing quarantines, carrying raids on potential virus carriers and using modern facial recognition technologies to impose quarantine measures. on 2 march, western russia confirmed its first case in moscow oblast. previously on 31 january russia confirmed first two cases in its asian part, one in tyumen oblast and another in zabaykalsky krai. both were chinese nationals, who have since recovered. on 7 march, four new cases were confirmed, three was in lipetsk and one in saint petersburg. all people visited italy in the previous two weeks. on 8 march, three news cases were confirmed, in moscow, belgorod and kaliningrad oblasts. all people returned from italy. on 10 march, moscow mayor sergey sobyanin signed a decree for banning mass events in moscow with more than 5000 participants from 10 march to 10 april. by 15 april, cases were confirmed in all of western russia's federal subjects with the confirmation of the first case in nenets autonomous okrug. san marino main article: covid-19 pandemic in san marino on 27 february, san marino confirmed its first case, an 88-year-old man with pre-existing medical conditions, who came from italy. he was hospitalised at a hospital in rimini, italy. as of 25 march 2020: with 700 confirmed cases out of a population of 33,344 (as of 2018), it is the country with the highest percentage of confirmed cases per capita at 2.1% – 1 confirmed case per 48 inhabitants. also, with 42 confirmed deaths, the country has the highest rate of confirmed deaths per capita at 0.126% of the total population – 1 death per 794 inhabitants. serbia main article: covid-19 pandemic in serbia on 29 february, a massive infection occurred in the town of valjevo after a private party involving a guest from austria who had previously stayed in italy. on 6 march, the first case was confirmed in serbia by minister of health zlatibor lončar, of a man who had traveled to budapest. president aleksandar vucic and the government of the republic of serbia introduced a state of emergency on 15 march. two days later, curfew and quarantine were introduced as safeguards against massive infection. slovakia main article: covid-19 pandemic in slovakia a queue of cars and trucks waiting to cross the slovak border on 13 march people in bratislava wearing masks on 16 march on 6 march, slovakia confirmed its first case, a 52-year-old man from a small village near bratislava. he had not travelled anywhere in recent weeks but his son, who didn't show any symptoms, had visited venice. on 7 march, the virus was also confirmed in his wife and son. in october 2020, slovakia started implementation of a short-period mass-testing programme to test two-thirds of its citizens for covid-19. slovenia main article: covid-19 pandemic in slovenia on 4 march slovenia confirmed its first case. a patient of about 60 years of age had returned from morocco few days earlier (via italy) and was admitted to a hospital in ljubljana. on 6 march, a total of eight cases were reported, three of them medical professionals, who contracted the virus on holiday in italy. by 9 march 16 people were confirmed to be infected. spain main article: covid-19 pandemic in spain television cameras covering the first coronavirus cases in a hospital in valencia on 31 january, spain confirmed its first case, in the canary island of la gomera. a tourist from germany tested positive and was admitted to university hospital of the nuestra señora de candelaria. on 19 february, 2,500 football fans from valencia attended a champions league game in bergamo, the hot spot of the outbreak in italy. on 24 february, a medical doctor from lombardy, italy who was vacationing in tenerife, tested positive at the university hospital of the nuestra señora de candelaria in spain. afterwards, multiple cases were detected in tenerife involving people who had come in contact with the doctor. other cases involving individuals who visited italy were also discovered on spanish mainland. on saturday 14 march, the spanish government imposed a nationwide quarantine, banned all trips that are not necessary and announced that companies may be intervened to guarantee supplies. however, with universities and schools closed earlier that week, bars and parks were full, and due to slow enactment "part of the population of madrid and other cities had dispersed across the country". as of 17 march 2020, there had been 11,826 confirmed cases with 1,028 recoveries and 533 deaths in spain. on 28 march, the spanish government tightened up its national lockdown, ordering all non-essential workers to stay at home for the next two weeks. nearly 900,000 workers lost their jobs in spain since it went into lockdown in mid-march 2020. public transport has also been greatly affected by the lockdowns and the severe restrictions established by the government. the relationship between the users who have continued using the urban bus and the characteristics of the stop's surroundings have been analysed. on 10 january 2022, spanish prime minister pedro sánchez initiated a debate in the european union to treat covid-19 as an “endemic illness” rather than a pandemic. he suggested a move towards a flu-like monitoring system amid falling death rates and hospitalisations on the european continent. sweden main article: covid-19 pandemic in sweden on 31 january, sweden confirmed its first case. a woman in her 20s, who had visited wuhan, tested positive and was admitted at ryhov county hospital in jönköping. on 26 february, following the outbreak in italy and in iran, infection clusters originating from these two countries appeared in sweden. a number of individuals in västra götaland, jönköping, stockholm and uppsala tested positive and were admitted to the infectious disease units in the respective counties. the country's first fatality came on 11 march, that of a man in stockholm over 60 who had other illnesses prior to infection. as of 12 march, national testing strategy shifted to only the elderly, the severely ill, and healthcare personnel. the official recommendation for symptoms that were not serious, as of 13 march, was to stay at home and not visit healthcare. this has led to statistics becoming less useful. as of 14 march 924 people were reported as having become infected. the ministry for foreign affairs of sweden made the recommendation to refrain from unnecessary travel to all countries. on 22 january 2021 the ministry of justice of sweden implemented travel bans from denmark and the united kingdom due to the mutation of sars-cov-2. switzerland main article: covid-19 pandemic in switzerland supermarket with some empty shelves and restricted access to non-vital items on 25 february, following the outbreak in italy, switzerland confirmed its first case, a 70-year-old man in the italian-speaking canton of ticino, who had previously visited milan. afterwards, multiple cases related to the italy clusters were discovered in multiple cantons including basel-city, zürich and graubünden. multiple isolated cases not related to the italian clusters were also confirmed. on 28 february, the federal council announced an immediate ban on all events with more than 1,000 participants. as of 10 march, there were 500 confirmed cases in switzerland. on 16 march 2020, the federal council announced further measures, and a revised ordinance. measures include the closure of bars, shops and other gathering places until 19 april, but leaves open certain essentials, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, (a reduced) public transport and the postal service. those measures were prolonged until 26 april 2020. on 23 december, following an unexpectedly quick authorization by swissmedic of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine, the vaccination campaign was launched in several cantons. a 90-year-old woman from the lucerne region became the first vaccinated patient in continental europe outside russia. all cantons are expected to start vaccinating by 11 january 2021. turkey main article: covid-19 pandemic in turkey the covid-19 pandemic in turkey is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). the first case in turkey was recorded on 11 march, when a local returned home from a trip to europe. the first death due to covid-19 in the country occurred on 15 march. turkey stood out from the rest of europe by not ordering a legal lockdown until april 2021, when the country enacted its first nationwide restrictions. the government kept many businesses open, and allowed companies to set their own guidelines regarding workers. the turkish health system has the highest number of intensive care units in the world at 46.5 beds per 100,000 people (compared to 9.6 in greece, 11.6 in france, and 12.6 in italy). as of 3 may 2021, turkey's observed case-fatality rate stands at 0.84%, the 148th highest rate globally. this low case-fatality rate has generated various explanations including the relative rarity of nursing homes, favorable demographics, long legacy of contact tracing, high number of intensive care units, universal health care, and a lockdown regime that led to a higher proportion of