Ukraine has registered 12,079 new COVID-19 cases as of 9 a.m. on Nov. 22, bringing the total number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic to 624,744.
The number of daily new cases has decreased after three days of record numbers that peaked at 14,575 cases on Nov. 20. But this usually happens over the weekends, when less testing is done.
In the past 24 hours, 138 people have died of COVID-19, and 1,134 were hospitalized, while 4,604 have recovered.
A total of 286,917 patients have recovered and 10,951 have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic. There are currently 326,876 active cases across the country.
In the past 24 hours, the largest numbers of new cases have been recorded in the city of Kyiv (1,199), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (1,017), Kyiv Oblast (962), Sumy Oblast (779), and Zaporizhzhia Oblast (765).
In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian laboratories have carried out 27,998 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 6,399 antibody tests. Over 4.1 million PCR tests have been conducted since the start of the pandemic.
Ukraine has long been among the top 15 countries in the world by the number of new daily cases. Ukraine is only the 47th country in the world by population.
On Nov. 21-22, Ukraine has its second “weekend lockdown,” a policy that forces non-essential businesses to close on Saturdays and Sundays. The measure began on Saturday, Nov. 14, and will last until at least Nov. 30, covering three weekends.
“According to our calculations, in this way, we can surely stabilize the situation, stop the spread of the disease and stop such growth (of new cases),” Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said in a briefing on Nov. 21.
However, last weekend of Nov 14-15, many local governments in Ukraine ignored the central government’s decree. The parliament took the government’s side, failing to vote on a recommendation to lift the lockdown.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told parliament on Nov. 17 that Ukraine would reach the number of 20,000 daily cases in three weeks if the current “weekend lockdown” policy doesn’t work.
“If the weekend lockdown does not provide the necessary reduction in the number of social contacts, then, according to the analysts of the National Security and Defense Council, we will cross the line of 20,000 (new) infections every day in three weeks,” Shmyhal said on Nov. 17 from the parliament’s rostrum.
“In the next 2 weeks, we should see the first results, provided that absolutely all the rules are followed. If that doesn’t happen, we’ll start preparing for tougher quarantine restrictions,” he added.
On Nov. 17, lawmakers supported a bill that would obligate the government to give seven days of notice before imposing additional restrictions.
The bill — supported by 303 lawmakers — also required the government to provide a detailed plan of measures that it would take to help businesses and those in need of support if new restrictions are introduced.
On Nov. 11, the government also imposed a nationwide quarantine, dropping its idea of “adaptive quarantine” that assigned different “quarantine zones” for different communities. The new nationwide quarantine measures correspond with those that were used for communities with the orange level of COVID-19 threat.
On Nov. 9, Stepanov specified the Ministry’s three criteria that determine when a person can stop their self-quarantine after contracting COVID-19. One of the criteria is a negative PCR test, while the others are equivalent, he said.
This means that a person can stop their self-quarantine if they meet at least one of three criteria. The three criteria are:
- No clinical symptoms of acute respiratory disease and a negative PCR test.
- No clinical symptoms of acute respiratory disease for three days, counting from the 10th day from the date of the first symptoms without laboratory examination.
- No clinical symptoms of acute respiratory disease for three days counting from the 10th day after a PCR test that eventually yielded a positive result, and without another PCR test to confirm that one has recovered.
According to Stepanov, Ukraine may run out of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in need of intensive care as soon as mid-December if the rate of spread is not slowed.
On Nov. 2, the Health Ministry launched an additional national coronavirus contact center that works around the clock, because the regional hotlines are stretched to their limits. Employees of the contact center advise people on questions about COVID-19 and organizational issues related to how to treat the disease. The hotline’s number is +380800602019.
