Shares in Mercator Medical were up 12% by 3pm on Thursday, marking their highest level since 2022, and a 43% increase over three days. In total, the PPE-maker's share value has risen by 54% since the start of the year.

Mercator is riding high on what brokerage firm DM BOŚ analyst Konrad Ryczko calls a “COVID-19 encore.” The company was a darling of the exchange in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it is catching a second wind along with peer Harper Hygenics and biotechnology firm Biomaxima.

Harper is a leader on the Polish market for cosmetic and hygiene products while one of Biomaxima’s specializations is diagnostics and it is a major manufacturer of rapid COVID tests.

COVID – the sequel?

Poland has seen a sharp increase in COVID infections since July and the country’s chief sanitary inspector told the national press agency, PAP, on Tuesday that he would recommend the wearing of masks and enhanced hygiene to prevent the spread of COVID, flu, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Meanwhile, there are increased infections globally of Mpox, previously known as Monkeypox, and a new strain of the disease has caused alarm over the speed of its transmission.

Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s director for Europe, has said that regardless of the new variant, which has broken out mostly in central Africa, the disease’s spread is under control.