The number of coronavirus infections has increased in some Ukrainian regions since the authorities lifted most quarantine restrictions to reopen the economy.
In Donetsk Oblast, however, the majority of all new cases have been recorded at a closed institution — a residential mental health care facility in Slovyansk, a town of just under 110,000 people located 625 kilometers to the southeast of Kyiv.
As of July 7, 278 people in that facility have tested positive for COVID-19. Only 62 of them are staff. The rest are 216 patients.
The facility has a total of 412 patients, and now a little over a half of them have COVID-19.
Eleven patients with confirmed COVID-19 have been hospitalized, Ihor Boyko, a top official of the Donetsk Oblast administration, said at a briefing on July 7.
The facility has been quarantined since March and patients could not leave its territory. The officials believe the virus must have been brought in by a staff member.
The COVID-19 figures in Donetsk Oblast have grown almost sevenfold since the easing of lockdown began on May 11. The count went from 100 cases on May 12 to 686 on July 7. Of them, 437 are still active, and 10 people have died.
Over half of the cases, 367, are in Slovyansk.
The Slovyansk residential mental health care facility is not the only such place in Ukraine where COVID-19 has spread rapidly.
On July 1, the Borodyanka residential mental health care facility in Kyiv Oblast was quarantined after five staffers and three patients tested positive for the coronavirus.
Earlier on June 1, the Pisky-Radkivski residential mental health care facility in Kharkiv Oblast had 28 confirmed cases.
