A new massive COVID-19 outbreak was detected in a residential care facility for girls and women with severe mental disabilities in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported at a briefing on May 15.
According to Klitschko, out of 182 people tested at the facility, 81 were diagnosed with COVID-19. Among them are 53 residents, in the age range of 7 to 35 years, and 28 members of staff.
Three employees were hospitalized. The rest, including all residents, are in satisfactory condition, according to Klitschko, and are receiving medical help inside the orphanage. Currently, the facility is closed for quarantine for two weeks.
The orphanage, known as the Darnitskiy Residential Care Facility, is a permanent home to orphaned girls and adult women who have severe mental disabilities and need permanent care.
While the facility has enough medical masks, gloves and disinfectants, it has neither biohazard suits, nor protective face shields, according to Olena Hrybovska, its director, the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine reported.
According to Klitschko, it was one of the nurses working in the facility who got infected first and allegedly passed the coronavirus to others there.
Now, Kyiv authorities will check seven other institutions that house people with disabilities, including a similar facility for male patients, for COVID-19 cases.
“I once again urge everyone to be careful and follow the rules. The situation in this residential care facility shows how one person can infect many people,” Klitschko said.
According to the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, the “situation might be systemic throughout Ukraine,” with places like residential care facilities and prisons being hotbeds for the virus.
As of the morning of May 15, 2,068 cases had been diagnosed in Kyiv since the start of the pandemic. It is the second worst-hit place in Ukraine, following Chernivtsi Oblast, which has identified 2,600 cases.
