The Ministry of Health has developed and is preparing for implementation the National Cancer Control Strategy until 2030, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Health in 2020 has developed a National Cancer Control Strategy until 2030, the implementation of which will start in the near future,” he said.
The minister said that it is planned to expand the list of services for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer under the medical guarantees program.
“In 2020, 118 medical institutions provided services for the diagnosis of oncological diseases. In 2021, we will expand the list of such services as much as possible,” Stepanov said.
Only 39% of Ukrainian citizens have expressed readiness to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus if such a vaccine becomes available at local pharmacies, and 56% are not ready to do so, according to the results of a public opinion survey carried out by the Rating Sociological Group between January 14 and January 16, 2021.
Forty-three percent of respondents said they will be ready to be vaccinated if it is free of charge, and 52% of those polled expressed the opposite opinion. The majority of those who oppose vaccination are people from the age group between 30 and 49, women, residents of small towns, and those who are not afraid of contracting the disease, the poll findings show.
By comparison, 55% of Ukrainians supported free vaccination in November 2020. Meanwhile, the number of those who are ready to pay for the vaccine has slightly grown.
Fifty-one percent of respondents backed the strengthening of quarantine measures, including the lockdown, from January 8 to January 24, down from 56% in December, and 46% of those polled disapproved of the aforementioned steps.
At the same time, 40% of respondents believe that the lockdown will help curb the spread of the disease (52% in December), and 55% took the opposite view. One-third of those who support the lockdown said they do not consider it to be effective.
Sixteen percent of respondents said they had had COVID-19 or were suffering from it at the moment, 80% of those polled said they had not had COVID-19, and 4% could not answer the question.
As compared with previous such surveys, the latest poll shows that the respondents were considerably less worried by the fact that they themselves or their relatives might contract the virus. This figure stands at 40% in January, down from 57% in November. Seventy-eight percent of respondents to the latest survey expressed concern that their relatives and friends might contract the disease, as compared to 87% in November. The respondents who expressed the greatest concern on this matter were the elderly and women.
The poll, using the Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview method, took place between January 14 and January 16 and surveyed 1,600 respondents aged 18 and up.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has lifted the ban on the conduct of transactions by individuals as the forward purchase or sale of foreign currency, the purchase or sale of foreign exchange and bank metals on margin trading and the settlements in foreign currency to buy government securities denominated in foreign currency, the press service of the central bank said on Saturday.
The changes were approved by NBU Board resolution No. 3 dated January 15 posted on the regulator’s website. The document came into force on January 17.
According to it, the NBU also lifted the prohibition for legal entities to carry out transactions for the forward sale of foreign currency and the prohibition on banks’ swaps with resident individuals, if the first part of such an operation involves the sale of foreign currency or bank metals to the client.
In addition, the National Bank allowed banks and non-bank financial institutions to buy foreign currency from the population for non-cash funds in hryvnia through self-service terminals and approved the rules of conducting relevant operations. In particular, after the sale of currency through payment devices, hryvnia funds will be credited to the personal current accounts of individuals.
In order to promote the use of digital analogs instead of paper documents, the National Bank clarified the requirements for the implementation of transfers of funds in foreign currency by individuals outside Ukraine and the receipt of such transfers from abroad.
In particular, the regulator added the ability for individuals to use digital passports in the Diia mobile application when carrying out these operations, where information is displayed in electronic form, which contains an ID card and a biometric passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
According to the estimates of the National Bank, the easing of these requirements will ensure the implementation of further steps on the path of currency liberalization, as well as contribute to the expansion of opportunities for businesses and individuals to hedge currency risks, further develop new services provided by authorized institutions in the field of currency exchange transactions and the use of digital documents in foreign exchange transactions.
Ukraine in 2020 reduced the export of electricity by 26.5% (by 1.715 billion kWh) compared to 2019, to 4.754 billion kWh, according to the data of NPC Ukrenergo.
According to the calculations of Interfax-Ukraine, the supply of electricity from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia and Romania decreased 32.1% (by 1.428 billion kWh), to 3.02 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland grew by 7.8% (by 107.3 million kWh), to 1.484 billion kWh. Electricity supplies to Moldova decreased 74.1% (by 476.9 million kWh), to 167.1 million kWh. Export to Belarus amounted to 82.8 million kWh.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Russia.
At the same time, Ukraine in 2020 also cut electricity imports by 15.3% (by 413.7 million kWh) compared to 2019, to 2.285 billion kWh, including 1.474 billion kWh supplied from Slovakia, 516 million kWh from Hungary, 152.3 million kWh from Belarus, 89.4 million kWh from Romania, and 53.4 million kWh from the Russian Federation.
In addition, within technological flows associated with the parallel operation of the IPS of Ukraine with the power systems of neighboring countries and power supply of dead-end areas, 58.9 million kWh of electricity was imported from the Russian Federation last year, and 0.9 million kWh from Belarus. Emergency supplies from Hungary amounted to 1.1 million kWh.
Electricity production in the Integrated Power System of Ukraine in 2020 decreased 3.3% compared to the same period in 2019, to 148.81 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Nuclear power plants (NPP) last year reduced electricity generation by 8.2% compared to the same period last year, to 76.202 billion kWh. In particular, production of electricity at Zaporizhia NPP amounted to 28.162 billion kWh (26.7% less compared to 2019), Yuzhnoukrainsk some 19.441 billion kWh (8.7% more), Rivne NPP some 17.559 billion kWh (8.2% more), and Khmelnytsky NPP some 11.041 billion kWh (45.9% more).
Thermal power plants (TPP), as well as combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants reduced their output by 6.2%, to 52.34 billion kWh. In particular, TPPs reduced production by 11.9%, to 39.553 billion kWh, while combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants increased by 17.6%, to 12.787 billion kWh.
Hydro power plants and pumped storage power plants reduced production by 3.7%, to 7.581 billion kWh, and block stations increased by 4.3%, to 1.845 billion kWh.
Electricity production by non-traditional sources (wind farms, solar power plants, biomass) grew almost twice, to 10.841 billion kWh.
The share of nuclear power plants in the structure of electricity production accounted for 51.2%, thermal power plants, combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants 35.2%, hydro power plants and pumped storage power plants 5.1%, block stations 1.2%, alternative sources 7.3%.
In December 2020, electricity production in the Integrated Power System of Ukraine grew by 7.2% compared to the same month in 2019, to 15.241 billion kWh.
Ukroboronprom State Concern is studying the possibility of resuming the production of An-74 aircraft at the state enterprise Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company (KSAMC) and including them in the state defense order, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleh Urusky said on Facebook on Friday night.
According to him, at a recent meeting on the settlement of problematic issues of enterprises that are members of Ukroboronprom, the possibility of resuming the production of An-74 aircraft at the KSAMC, as well as amendments to regulatory legal acts to improve the conditions for defense production was discussed.
“As a result of the meeting, a number of decisions were made regarding the importance of including the supply of An-74 aircraft in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the state defense order, carrying out legislative initiatives to improve the financial situation at the KSAMC, amending the legislation of Ukraine on pricing of military products and advance payments on state contracts for state defense orders,” Urusky said.
According to him, the meeting was attended by representatives of the central executive authorities, the management of Ukroboronprom and its enterprises.
The An-74 aircraft is a modification of the An-72 aircraft. It is designed to carry out ice reconnaissance and transportation while providing research work in the Central Arctic Basin and Antarctica. The aircraft can be converted under operating conditions into cargo and ambulance versions.
