Ukraine has registered 9,176 new COVID-19 cases as of 10 a.m. on Dec. 13, bringing the total number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic to 894,215.
In the past 24 hours, 156 people have died of COVID-19, taking the total since the pandemic began to almost 15,154. The record number of daily deaths from the virus (285) was registered in Ukraine on Dec. 11.
In the past 24 hours, 2,969 people were hospitalized, while 7,563 have recovered. A total of 501,564 patients have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic.
The largest numbers of new cases in the past 24 hours have been recorded in the city of Kyiv (1,125), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (709), Odesa Oblast (628), Zaporizhia Oblast (535).
Ukraine’s daily COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries from Nov. 1 to Dec. 12, 2020. All data were released by the Ministry of Health.
For the same period, Ukrainian laboratories have carried out 33,593 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 7,896 antibody tests. Over 5 million PCR tests have been conducted since the start of the pandemic.
Health Minister Maksym Stepanov announced on Dec. 12 that the ministry has updated its rules for PCR testing in order to detect more coronavirus cases in Ukraine — free testing will be made available to all people with any signs of respiratory illness.
The plan is to conduct at least 1 million tests per month, said Stepanov.
Ukraine’s daily new COVID-19 cases and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the most accurate way of diagnosing the novel coronavirus, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 12, 2020.
On Dec.11, the global coronavirus vaccine alliance, COVAX, has officially approved Ukraine’s request for COVID-19 vaccine. Ukraine will receive 8 million doses for free, enough for 4 million people, to fight the coronavirus.
Read more: COVAX to give Ukraine 8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for free
Next week the ministry will also issue step-by-step instructions for people on how to act if they have any symptoms.
During a briefing on Dec. 5, Stepanov said that weekend lockdown, which was imposed for three weekends from Nov. 14 until Nov. 30, had yielded a positive result. According to Stepanov, the numbers of new COVID-19 cases in Ukraine are currently lower than two weeks ago. On Nov. 28, Ukraine registered a record-breaking 16,294 new COVID-19 cases.
Despite this possible improvement, over the past two months, the daily case numbers and the death rate have increased sharply. For this reason, the Ukrainian government will impose a strict lockdown after the New Year and Christmas holidays.
Read more: Ukraine to impose new lockdown on Jan. 8, after holidays
