The incidence of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Ukraine continues to decline, and the number of hospitalizations is also decreasing, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Last week, some 25,500 cases of COVID-19 incidence were detected, which is less than in the previous week (27,157 cases). If you look at the statistics, we see the situation is stabilized. For example, in the first week of December, some 89,000 cases were recorded. The number of hospitalized patients is also changing – in the first week of December there were about 28,000 people, and as of Monday 17,911 people in medical facilities,” he said.
According to the minister, the number of antigen tests is increasing. “During the week, some 144,248 PCR tests were done. The number of tests with rapid antigen tests is also growing, some 52,222 studies were conducted, which is 20,000 more than the previous week. Ukraine is provided with test systems,” he said.
The German government will provide Ukraine with EUR 13.1 million for energy-efficient modernization of medical care facilities, procurement of latest basic medical equipment and equipment for outpatient diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, the relevant grant and project agreement was signed on February 8 between Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov, Director of the KfW Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia Department Olaf Zymelka and Executive Director of the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund Andriy Laktionov.
The aim of the project is to counter the threats and consequences of the pandemic by means of their energy efficient renewal and provision of the necessary medical equipment.
The funds will be used to upgrade the infrastructure and equip 12 institutions of primary and secondary (reference) medicine in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia regions and in Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by the Ukrainian government with latest medical devices and protective equipment.
The project will be implemented by the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund (UFSI) within three years.
In addition, annexes were signed for other projects worth EUR 23.4 million, of which EUR 9 million was allocated to the construction of housing for internally displaced persons (13 facilities) and improvement of infrastructure (six schools and seven kindergartens) in communities hosting IDPs.
The second grant of EUR 14.45 million is aimed at improving the conditions for the provision of medical care. The purchase of new equipment and energy-efficient renovation of hospitals will advert at least 40 facilities in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia regions and in the Russia-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Health Minister of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov told President Volodymyr Zelensky that today Ukraine received confirmation for the supply of 12 million doses of vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Novavax, the presidential press service said.
“The sooner we receive vaccines, the faster we will overcome pandemics in Ukraine. I know that the Cabinet of Ministers is carefully working on the development of a website that will help Ukrainians to easily and conveniently register for vaccination. Like every Ukrainian, I look forward to the start of the vaccination process. Some 12 million doses is a good signal from our partners, and this will be enough to ensure vaccinations within the first months after the start of supplies,” Zelensky said.
Deliveries will take place from February 2021.
Thus, during a meeting with the president, Stepanov said an agreement had been reached on the supply of vaccines developed with the participation of AstraZeneca (Great Britain and Oxford University) and Novavax (the United States), which are produced under license agreements at the facilities of Serum Institute (India).
The confirmation received will be implemented through a contract between the Serum Institute and Crown Agents.
Ukraine’s neighboring countries are in the “red” zone for the situation with coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, according to data on the Health Ministry’s website on Friday.
Among the closest neighbors of Ukraine, the “red” zone includes, in particular, Slovakia (468.4 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population), Belarus (222), Poland (196.1), Russia (189.8), Romania (173), Hungary (163.8), and Moldova (172.3).
The “red” zone includes countries with an incidence rate per 100,000 population over the past 14 days higher than in Ukraine (142.3). In total 80 countries.
Portugal, Israel, Spain, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the United States, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Georgia, Austria, Germany, and Canada are also among the countries of the “red” zone.
The list of countries of the “green” zone includes, in particular, Turkey, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Japan, India, and Egypt.
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer will soon provide documents for registration of a vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
“Yesterday we had a telephone conversation with Pfizer headquarters. We were assured that all documents for vaccine registration in Ukraine will be submitted in the near future. The vaccine will be used only after registration,” he said.
Liashko recalled that vaccination in Ukraine would be free and voluntary.
“Vaccinations will be carried out by mobile teams, consisting of two nurses, a doctor, a registrar and a driver. They will provide organized professional teams [medical institutions, social institutions, and military units] with vaccinations at the first stage […] From February 5, we start medical trainings for doctors and regional coordinators to ensure logistical and coordination cooperation between the national, regional and vaccination rooms,” the deputy minister said.
At the same time, he said that the country had the necessary capacities for storing vaccines.
“We have capacities for storing vaccines with a temperature regime of minus 80 degrees Celsius and a temperature regime of plus 2 degrees Celsius. As for the latter, the state-owned enterprise Ukrvaktsyna can store about 30 million doses of vaccines. There are 25 warehouses at the regional level where it is possible to store the three-month need for vaccine. In addition, there are 490 district storage points and refrigeration equipment at vaccination points. We will closely monitor that the cold chain is observed,” Liashko said.
“At the same time, we have submitted an application to the European Investment Bank and we want to update all the refrigeration equipment in the vaccination rooms – even the one used for routine immunization,” he said.
Liashko said that citizens of Ukraine who are in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea will also be provided with access to free and voluntary vaccination at vaccination points, which will be located in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
COVID-19 vaccines will begin to arrive in Ukraine under the COVAX mechanism in February this year, head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said.
“We reacted quickly and provided EUR 190 million in aid and 1.2 billion in macro-financial support – an unprecedented amount for a crisis year. Today, the issue of vaccination against the virus has come to the fore. Vaccines under the EU-supported COVAX program will begin to arrive in February,” he said at a meeting of the Commission on coordination of implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
“Ukraine and other neighboring countries are a priority for the EU,” Maasikas said.
As reported, within the framework of the COVAX program, Ukraine will receive 117,000 doses of American-made Pfizer-BioNTech m-RNA vaccine in February, and in parallel, during the first half of 2021, from 2.2 to 3.7 million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.
