Polish deputy PM tests positive for COVID-19

WARSAW -- Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin has tested positive for COVID-19, a ministry spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.

Sasin, who also heads the Ministry of State Assets, has started self-isolation at home, ministry spokesman Karol Manys told Polish media.

Sasin had undertaken quarantine four times after being exposed to the coronavirus previously -- including two cases in which other government officials tested positive for the virus.

Some Polish government officials, including President Andrzej Duda, had contracted the virus.

Over 1.4 million Poles have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, with 9,436 new cases reported on Thursday. The death toll in the country now stands at 32,455.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 236 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by WHO on Jan 12.