Ukraine’s health ministry confirms third COVID-19 death, total cases grow to 21

A third person has died from the novel coronavirus in Ukraine, while the total number of confirmed cases in the country has risen to 21, Ukraine’s health ministry reported on March 19.

According to the ministry, a 56-year old woman from Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine had initially practiced self-treatment and had not sought medical attention until it was too late.

The Ukrainian first reported symptoms – a high fever and coughing – on March 13, but refused hospitalization.

On March 16, she came to the hospital in severe condition and died a day later. She was previously diagnosed with the influenza A virus complicated by pneumonia, but lab work in Kyiv confirmed the case to be COVID-19.

The woman lived in Ivano-Frankivsk with her husband, who had recently returned from abroad and was under self-quarantine. He reported no COVID-19 symptoms, but was hospitalized in the regional clinic for infectious diseases.

According to Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor Ruslan Martsinkov, the city plans to provide financial assistance to bury the woman on the territory of the infectious disease hospital to prevent the virus’ spread, but need the consent of the woman’s family.

This is the third officially reported COVID-19 death in Ukraine. The first fatal case was a 71-year-old woman in the Zhytomyr region who died on March 13. On March 17, a 33-year-old woman from the Chernivtsi region died from the disease.

So far Ukraine is among the European countries with the smallest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, which has infected over 240,000 and killed over 9,950 people worldwide.

As of March 19, there are 21 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Ukraine, an increase from the 16 reported on March 18.

There are 10 cases in Chernivtsi Oblast (one fatality), two in the Zhytomyr Oblast (one fatality), two in Kyiv Oblast, one in Donetsk Oblast, one in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (one fatality), two in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and three in Kyiv.