Qatar Airways, the national airline of Qatar, will launch flights from Doha to Odessa on December 9, which has become the second in Ukraine after Boryspil, where Qatari airlines will start operating.
According to the Odessa international airport’s Facebook page, the flights will be operated three times a week, namely on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Departure from Doha to Odessa is scheduled for 08.30, arrival will be at 12.45. Departure from Odessa will be at 16.45, arrival in Doha at 22.50.
Ukraine is not considering the supply of Johnson & Johnson’s anti-COVID vaccine, negotiations with the company are not underway, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor Ihor Kuzin said.
“Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine supply is not currently being considered and supply negotiations are currently not held,” he told reporters on Monday.
Kuzin said that the vaccine manufacturer “is not proactively communicating.”
“The communication mechanisms that we have used have so far been ineffective,” he said.
As reported, in July 2021, Ukraine registered a vector vaccine against COVID-19 Janssen manufactured by Johnson & Johnson. One dose of Janssen vaccine is sufficient for a complete immunization. It requires a storage temperature of +2 to +8 degrees Celsius.
Earlier, 500 doses of Janssen vaccine were delivered to Ukraine in compliance with the procedure for importing unregistered medicines for vaccination of employees of a private company, which paid its cost, organized delivery and ensured compliance with the temperature regime. Employees of this company work in Alaska in the fishing industry and had to be vaccinated with a U.S.-certified vaccine in order to be allowed into this country.
Almost 88.2% of Ukrainian teachers have already received one dose of the vaccine against the COVID-19 coronavirus infection, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine said.
“As of today, October 25, 2021, at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination was received by 88.2% of employees of general secondary education institutions, almost 400,000 teachers across the country were vaccinated with two doses,” the Ministry of Education said.
It is reported, that the highest level of vaccination is demonstrated by: Mykolaiv region – 98%, Kyiv region – 95.5%, Kharkiv region – 94.6%, Donetsk region – 92.7%, Khmelnytsky region – 91.6% (full and incomplete vaccination cycle). At the same time, the vaccination threshold of 80% of school workers has not been reached only in Rivne region.
The ministry reports that 8,000 schools are on vacation since October 25. In the regions caught in “red” zones of epidemic danger, there are schools on vacation or distance learning that have not reached the vaccination rate of 100%. In Odesa region there are 149 schools, in Donetsk region – 93, in Zaporizhia region – 47.
Moldovan state company Energocom has announced a series of tenders to buy natural gas with delivery from the border with Ukraine (Oleksiyivka) or Romania (Ungheni).
The gas purchases are being made for Moldova due to the “exceptional situation,” the company said on its website.
“Following the National Commission for Exceptional Situations of October 13, 2021, the state of alert was announced regarding the natural gas sector. Energocom, a company 100% owned by the State of Moldova, is preparing to purchase natural gas to be supplied at Moldovan border from Ukraine and/or Romania,” the company said.
Tenders will be held for various periods, to begin with short-term gas purchases of 5 million cubic meters and potentially more for the balance of October, Energocom said.
Gas suppliers must have “a proven record of reliable and professional activity (gas supply license in at least one EU/Energy Community country and >0.3 bcm of gas trading in 2020), the company said.
The first tender to purchase 1 mcm of gas was announced on October 23. Prepayment will be issued immediately, but SWIFT transfer to foreign entities can only be carried out on Monday, October 25, Energocom said.
“Considering the emergency situation, the Public Property Agency of Moldova, the sole shareholder of Energocom, will issue a comfort letter to the selected suppliers to confirm that payments will be duly made,” the company said.
The Energy Community Secretariat held a meeting with a delegation from Moldova to discuss problems with gas supplies to the country.
Ukraine, with financial support from the U.S. government, will receive $2.8 million worth of refrigeration equipment for storing COVID-19 vaccines at primary health care facilities and when using by mobile teams.
According to a press release from UNICEF, which supplied the equipment, funds for the purchase of the equipment were provided by USAID.
Some 3,100 vaccination points, 1,034 of which operate on the basis of primary health care facilities, and 800 mobile teams, will receive equipment.
The equipment includes 5,643 thermal containers, 8,100 thermal bags, 197,730 ice packs and 27,486 temperature monitoring devices.
The first batch of equipment was delivered on September 30 and includes 2,700 thermal bags in which COVID-19 vaccines can be stored at temperatures from +2 to + 8 ° C.
In the future, this equipment can be used for the transportation and storage of vaccines provided for by the national immunization schedule.
Currently, USAID has allocated about $10 million to support vaccinations in Ukraine and donated almost $2.2 million of COVID-19 vaccines to Ukraine as part of the COVAX mechanism.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 25/10/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
