Ukraine has registered 484 new cases of COVID-19 as of 9 a.m. on Aug.1, with the total number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic being over 2.25 million.
In the past 24 hours, 131 COVID-19 patients have recovered and 6 have died.
Over 2.18 million people have recovered from COVID-19 and 52,951 have died since the pandemic hit Ukraine.
In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian laboratories have carried out 13,745 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 2,676 antibody tests. Nearly 11.4 million PCR tests have been conducted since the start of the pandemic.
The largest numbers of new cases have been recorded in the city of Kyiv (86), Odesa Oblast (55), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (41), Kharkiv Oblast (40), and Kyiv Oblast (24).
State of vaccination
Vaccination in Ukraine began on Feb. 24 and by July 31, over 3.57 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine, while over 2 million have received both doses.
In the last 24 hours, 68,499 people received the vaccine, including 22,902 who received the second dose, completing their vaccination.
Up to 40% of Ukrainians are now immune to COVID-19, claimed Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. The official said on July 16 that nearly 33% of the country’s population has recovered from the disease and acquired immunity to it. Combined with those vaccinated, the proportion might be up to 38-40%, he said.
Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko has announced that the fifth and final stage of COVID-19 vaccination in Ukraine began on July 21. This means that all willing adults will be able to get a jab.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Health now allows voluntary COVID-19 vaccination of children over the age of 12 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, starting July 30.
Children over 12 can get the Pfizer vaccine if they have a high risk of severe disease related to COVID-19, are traveling abroad where the vaccine is mandatory or have already received the first dose of Pfizer in another country.
Anyone registered to be vaccinated through the government app Diia can get vaccinated on the weekends at one of the country’s 50 mass vaccination centers. Kyiv’s mass vaccination center is based inside the International Exhibition Center near the Livoberezhna metro station.
Ukraine currently vaccinates its people with Pfizer, Sinovac, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. On July 5, Ukraine authorized the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for use.
On July 21, Kyiv’s mass vaccination center started offering Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to everyone. Previously, only CoronaVac was available at the center.
U.S. pharmaceutical Pfizer will provide 20 million doses of vaccine to Ukraine by the end of 2021, according to the health ministry.
Under the COVAX program, the U.S. also sent 2 million doses of the Moderna vaccine to Ukraine on July 17.
A batch of 9,360 doses of Pfizer vaccine had to be evacuated to a special warehouse due to refrigeration failure during delivery to Kharkiv oblast at the beginning of the month, the Kharkiv Oblast Council reported on July 15.
The Ministry of Health and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) signed a $90 million agreement to launch the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Vaccination in Ukraine project, the health ministry announced on May 18. Forty million dollars are to be used to purchase vaccines, $30 million will be allocated for the deployment of vaccination against COVID-19, with the remaining funds used to strengthen the capacity of testing for COVID-19.
The U.S. has also promised to give Ukraine some of the 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine that it plans to donate to poor countries. Earlier, the U.S. said it would give Ukraine a share of 25 million doses pledged in humanitarian aid.
Quarantine restrictions eased
Due to the decreasing daily new cases of coronavirus, the Cabinet of Ministers on June 7 eased the restrictions, allowing businesses such as restaurants to work around the clock.
Mass events are allowed if all participants and organizers of the event have a negative COVID-19 test conducted no more than 72 hours before the event, or proper vaccination documentation.
The government has also changed the requirements for regions to be considered a “green” quarantine zone. Now, regions are “green” if their number of new infections does not exceed 75 per 100,000 people in the past 14 days, the rate of COVID-19 infection is less than 4%, the number of PCR and antigen test results do not fall under 300 per 100,000 in the past seven days and no other region is in the “red” zone.
Currently, all oblasts in Ukraine are in the “green” quarantine zone.
Yet Igor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health and Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine predicts the return of Ukraine to the “red zone” in the fall, calling on Ukrainians to vaccinate.