Ukraine has received from the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 100,000 kits for rapid testing for COVID-19 IgM/IgG and 200,000 protective masks as part of agreements on medical care, the website of the President of Ukraine said on Wednesday.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Yulia Sokolovska, at a meeting with the wife of the UAE Ambassador, Mrs. Al-Kaabe, thanked the UAE for its support in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine and said that the tests and personal protective equipment received will be transferred to the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, which will be distributed to them by regions.
The Deputy Head of the Office of the President also congratulated the UAE Embassy in Ukraine on the occasion of the UAE National Day, which is celebrated on December 2.
Ukraine must carefully prepare a vaccination campaign against COVID-19, otherwise the vaccination mechanism will not stop the epidemic, said head of the KSE Center for Health Economics, ex-Deputy Minister of Health Pavlo Kovtoniuk.
“We believe that without an emergency and massive vaccination campaign, Ukraine will not be able to use the tool [vaccination] in such a way that it somehow has at least a little impact on the distribution pattern,” he said during the weekly online presentation of KSE on Thursday.
Kovtoniuk noted that according to the calculations of the KSE, even in the “ideal world” Ukraine will not be able to vaccinate risk groups. In particular, if you vaccinate the greatest risk group – people over 55 years old, who, according to statistics, most often get sick with COVID-19, it will be necessary to vaccinate 13.5 million people in Ukraine.
According to KSE calculations, for such a vaccination “in an ideal world, when everyone has the vaccine and everyone came to the vaccination rooms at the same time, and all 6,580 vaccination rooms will work eight hours without breaks and weekends, and all these people will receive two doses of the vaccine,” six months will be needed.
“Even in ideal conditions, when everything comes along, we will be able to vaccinate the category of older people in only six months. But we understand that people do not come to vaccination rooms in an organized manner, that vaccines will not be delivered in proportional way, that some of the vaccines will come on the initiative of COVAX, and some will have to be bought, and they will be delivered at different times. There will be many more factors that will slow down this process. And only 36% of the population will be able to get vaccinated. We are not talking about herd immunity,” said Kovtoniuk.
“If we simply give people the opportunity to vaccinate at will, the process will drag on for years and even then the main risk groups will not be vaccinated. And in fact we do not use this tool,” he stressed.
Kovtoniuk believes it is most likely that “we will live in one mode or another with COVID-19 throughout 2021.”
“Vaccination will be one of the ways to combat COVID-19, but it will not be a miracle weapon that will destroy COVID-19. Other methods of struggle will continue to work: this is a powerful testing system that needs to be built, it is also powerful, I would say the aggressive contact tracing system that needs to be built is quarantine restrictions, which will still be present,” he said.
In Ukraine, law enforcement officers and authorized persons from now on, November 21, have the right to fine citizens for not wearing a mask in public places.
Law No. 1000-IX with amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine regarding the prevention of the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on November 6. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed it on November 19, and on November 20 it was published in the parliamentary newspaper Golos Ukrainy.
According to the law, people will be fined for being in public buildings, structures, public transport during the quarantine without wearing personal protective equipment, including respirators or protective masks that cover the nose and mouth, including those made by themselves. At the same time, the law stipulates that a respirator or protective mask must cover the nose and mouth.
The size of the fine will be from 10 to 15 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 170-255). Fines can be imposed by authorized representatives of local authorities, police officers, as well as employees of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service.
The occupancy of beds by patients with COVID-19 in Ukraine as of Monday morning is 52%, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
“Some 53,445 beds have already been introduced for the treatment of patients with COVID-19, of which 27,792 beds are occupied by patients. The occupancy of beds is 52%. We continue to introduce beds, we can increase the maximum to almost 90,000 (50% of all beds),” he said.
“Some 25.996 beds are provided with oxygen. In general, 12,168 beds are provided with oxygen throughout the country. But in some regions there is a tense situation – this is Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Kharkiv regions,” the minister added.
Ukraine expects to receive the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX initiative in the first half of 2021, Ukrainian Health Minister Maxym Stepanov has said.
“The first tranche will include 1.2 million doses and is expected to reach Ukraine in the first half of 2021,” Stepanov said during an online briefing on Friday.
The necessary technical documents are to be signed before December 7, he said.
“We plan primarily to vaccinate people from risk groups, such as medical workers, people aged 65 and older, and people having chronic diseases,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ten pharmaceutical companies are currently completing Phase 3 of the clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines and are planning to have their vaccines certified soon, Stepanov said.
The wife of Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Al-Kaabi donated over 5,000 rapid tests for coronavirus (COVID-19) infection to Kyiv.
As deputy head of Kyiv City State Administration Maryna Khonda said, these tests will be transferred to Kyiv orphanages and nursing homes for the elderly.
“Unfortunately, the pandemic did not recede. In the spring, when the phase of strict quarantine was underway, an outbreak of coronavirus was detected in Darnytsia orphanage boarding school for girls. Fortunately, everything went well, but in order to prevent such outbreaks in the future, we need to quickly and promptly identify disease and respond to cases of infection. These rapid tests will be sent to Sviatoshyn and Darnytsia orphanages, as well as to Kyiv geriatric boarding house and Kyiv boarding house of labor veterans. Thus, we will be able to control outbreaks of COVID-19 among people who are in the so-called ‘risk zone’, and not to allow further spread. I am very grateful to the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates for this assistance,” the press service of Kyiv City State Administration said.
It is noted that 724 people live in these four institutions: in orphanages 239 children with disabilities aged from seven to 35 years of various disorders, in geriatric institutions 485 people of retirement age.
