Appearing on CNN tonight, PM Mateusz Morawiecki said that despite the coronavirus being like an “earthquake for our economy” Poland had a “bold” plan. Paweł Supernak/PAP

PM Mateusz Morawiecki has said the coronavirus is an “earthquake for our economy” but stressed that his government has introduced a “bold and effective plan” to safeguard workers during the pandemic.

Speaking on CNN’s ‘Quest Means Business’ show, the PM told host Richard Quest: “We have introduced a very bold plan, an effective and important one. The size is similar to ten percent of our GDP.

Morawiecki said thousands are expected contract the virus before the peak is reached.Paweł Supernak/PAP

“It includes a safety net for workers, up to forty percent of the salary of an employee will be reimbursed to the company from the State budget.

“We believe it is important to save the working places throughout the next couple of weeks and at the same time preserve the capacity of the companies to bounce back once the crisis is slowing down.

“This is just one of the measures we have introduced, our plan consists of five pillars and one of those specifically dedicated to the safety net for workers.”

Morawiecki told Quest that Poland was the first country in Europe to introduce sanitary border controls which helped reduce the inflow of new cases.Filip Singer/PAP/EPA

Morawiecki added that he expects the number of people confirmed with the virus to increase by “thousands”.

He said: “Unfortunately the peak is still ahead of us, we will have several thousand cases if not more. This is the real earthquake for our economy. Right now we are fighting with the Coronavirus pandemic from the point of view our healthcare system and not letting new cases into Poland.

“This is why we were the first country in Europe to introduce so-called sanitary border controls, they have helped us slow down the inflow of new cases in Poland but on top of this we are introducing other measures.

“We have introduced quite restrictive measures compared to the other countries of the EU and these controls are effective. We have less cases than many other countries. We have restricted restaurants, bars, clubs, we have also stopped schools and kindergartens.

The PM also said his government had introduced safety measures for workers.Kalbar/TFN

“So the whole country is frozen which is very detrimental to our economy but this is needed for a couple of weeks with the hope that we will be able to very quickly re-establish the linkages of the supply chain, production and we will do this.”

The PM went on to praise the European Central Bank saying he was pleased with its reaction and for stepping "into the game very decisively purchasing bonds from the market and also preparing an LTRO or the next stage of LTRO which is Long Term Refinancing Operations, very important to preserve liquidity of the companies through the banking sector.”