COVID-19 PANDEMIC Ukraine posts record deaths and cases for second day
Kiev, Ukraine - Ukraine’s capital on Friday reimposed restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the ex-Soviet nation reported record COVID-19 deaths and cases for the second day in a row.
A government tally registered a record 23,785 new infections and 614 daily deaths in the ex-Soviet nation, which has an under-resourced public health service.
Authorities warned that the worst was yet to come.
“Dear friends, we are now just approaching this peak,” said Oleksiy Danylov, the head of the national security and defence council.
“This is a very scary situation,” he told reporters on Friday.
He blamed widespread antivaccine sentiment in the country for the spike in cases and deaths, adding that Ukraine could soon see more than 1,000 people die from the virus each day.
Kiev pupils will stay away from school for the next two weeks, with the first seven days coinciding with national school holidays.
Kindergartens are allowed to remain open if all their employ
A healthcare worker prepares to administer a dose of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to a patient at a vaccination centre in the GUM State Department store in Moscow on Thursday
ees have been vaccinated. Kiev authorities may also announce the temporary closure of retail, sporting and entertainment venues.
Authorities in the country of around 41mn people initially struggled to source vaccines and convince Ukrainians to get a jab. The vaccination campaign has also been hampered by the proliferation of fake vaccination certificates.
“Fake tests and COVID certificates take the lives of Ukrainians,” Health Minister Viktor
Lyashko told lawmakers earlier Friday.
“If you choose to die, to lose your loved ones by buying fake documents, this is your right, but wearing an oxygen mask in intensive care, patients admit that they have not been vaccinated.”
Badly hit regions have imposed vaccine certificates for entry to public places including restaurants and cinemas, sparking a wave of people getting inoculated.
Officials on Friday said that 269,666 people had been vacci
nated over the past 24 hours - the highest figure since the beginning of Ukraine’s vaccination drive in February.
Four vaccines including AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna are available in Ukraine, but only 16.5 per cent have been fully vaccinated. Ukraine has recorded more than 2.7mn cases and 63,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Russia reports record deaths
Russia also on Saturday posted a record 1,075 COVID deaths in 24 hours as Europe’s hardest hit country with dramatically low vaccination rates braces for nationwide curbs from next week, reports from Moscow said.
Despite multiple pleas from President Vladimir Putin and the availability of the home-grown Sputnik V vaccine, only 36 per cent of Russians are fully vaccinated.
According to fresh government figures, the country saw a record 37,678 new virus cases on Saturday.
This brings the official death toll to 229,528 - the highest on the continent - even as authorities are accused of vastly downplaying the effects of the pandemic.
Figures by statistics agency Rosstat paint a far darker picture, suggesting that more than 400,000 people had died from coronavirus by the end of August.
Moscow - the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak - will shut non-essential services between October 28 and November 7.
Putin also ordered a nationwide paid week off starting October 30 to curb fast spreading infections.