The Health Ministry expects an outbreak of COVID-19 in October-November, Ihor Kuzin, deputy health minister and the chief sanitary doctor said in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to Kuzin, based on the 2020 statistics, Ukraine is now approaching a surge of cases.
“Last year, the peak of daily infections came two months after the daily number of cases we’re seeing now,” he said.
There remains a possibility that an outbreak will start earlier, according to Kuzin. He called on Ukrainians to get vaccinated.
“The more people we get vaccinated now, the fewer deaths we will have in fall when there is a real outbreak,” Kuzin told Ukrinform.
As of Aug. 16, only 2.7 million Ukrainians are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and additionally nearly 2 million people have received the first of the two doses. The vaccination campaign started on Feb. 24.
However, Ukraine is speeding up vaccinations.
During the week of Aug. 9-15, almost a million COVID-19 vaccine shots were administered — or 12% of all shots done in Ukraine so far — making it the most successful week in terms of vaccinations yet.
More than half of them were those receiving their first dose of vaccine. Most shots were Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
In Ukraine, every citizen over the age of 12 is eligible to be vaccinated.
There are 197 mass vaccination centers in Ukraine. In Kyiv, they are based at the Kyiv International Exhibition Center near the Livoberezhna metro station and in Kyiv Boryspil International Airport.
