Ukraine has registered 745 new cases of COVID-19 as of 9 a.m. on July 23, bringing the total number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic to over 2.24 million.
In the past 24 hours, 394 COVID-19 patients have recovered and 24 have died.
Over 2.18 million people have recovered from COVID-19 and 52,835 have died since the pandemic hit Ukraine.
In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian laboratories have carried out 39,142 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 7,326 antibody tests. Over 11.2 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 (194), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (58), and Kherson Oblast (54).
State of vaccination
Vaccination in Ukraine began on Feb. 24 and by July 22, over 2.9 million people have received the first dose of the vaccine, while over 1.6 million have received both doses.
In the last 24 hours, 152,675 people received the vaccine, including 62,603 who received the second dose, completing their vaccination.
Up to 40% of Ukrainians are now immune to COVID-19, according to 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 daily new COVID-19 cases and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the most accurate way of diagnosing the novel coronavirus, between June 16, 2021 and July 23, 2021. All data was released by the Ministry of Health.
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. This will be the first batch of Moderna arriving in Ukraine.
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.
