Ukraine’s Armed Forces report first death from coronavirus

The Ukrainian military has reported the first death in its ranks from the novel coronavirus, the General Staff of the Armed Forces announced on April 6.

The victim, a woman working at a military base in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, had begun isolating at home and receiving outpatient care for acute respiratory illness on March 20, according to a statement by the military. After a week, her condition deteriorated and she was hospitalized in the city of Nadvirna, some 300 kilometers east of Kyiv. On March 30, she was moved to intensive care.

Early on April 6, the woman died. She was only confirmed to have been suffering from COVID-19 that evening.

As of the morning of April 7, Ukraine’s 250,000-member Armed Forces had four confirmed coronavirus cases, with 87 servicepersons in isolation to prevent the spread of the disease.

The first confirmed coronavirus case in the military, a female doctor from a military hospital in Khmelnytsky, a city located 316 kilometers to the southwest of Kyiv, was registered on April 2.

Read more: Ukraine’s military braces for coronavirus outbreak in its ranks

“Analysis of disease contraction among the military and civilian population shows that the infection spreads during ad hoc meetings with loved ones, friends and relatives beyond the circle of persons one sees every day or lives with,” the General Staff said in its April 7 statement.

“Do not put yourself and your family in danger by having excessive contacts.”