The government is concerned about the growing number of coronavirus patients for the second day in a row. Over the past 24 hours, 683 new cases of infection have been confirmed. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the traditional conference call on the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 chaired by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov, there has also been an increase in the number of complaints with symptoms of coronavirus, cases of pneumonia and hospitalization with signs of the disease. The locations of detection of new patients with coronavirus are scattered.
The President of Ukraine noted that the number of tests for COVID-19 has increased, and on average about 20,000 PCR and ELISA tests are carried out per day. The increase in morbidity among the population can be caused by the increase in the number of tests. Therefore, before deciding on more severe restrictive measures, it is necessary to understand the reasons for the increase in the number of patients.
"We need to quickly establish the causes of the increase in morbidity. And before that, all relevant authorities should draw the attention of the population to the need to comply with the mask regime and social distance on the street. I see that people walk without masks. Only observance of security measures will protect us from the threat of getting sick and save our economy from quarantine," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
It was also reported at the meeting that today, in addition to the capital, nine other regions of Ukraine are not ready to move to the next stage of quarantine mitigation. These are Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil and Chernivtsi regions.
The President also heard the report about the situation in the western regions of Ukraine, where one person died, 53 households were flooded and 241 settlements in two regions were left without electricity due to worsening weather conditions, including hail, heavy rain and stormy wind.
The Head of State set a task to report on the development of the situation in the region and monitor the needs of local residents in order to promptly provide assistance if necessary.