Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – October 12, 2020
12.10.2020
The mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko held a briefing providing an update on the coronavirus situation in Ukraine’s capital and the measures the city is taking to respond.
Klitschko: Over the past 24 hours more 196 coronavirus positive cases have been registered in Kyiv, bringing their total number to 27,693. There are six more deaths, raising the death toll to 487. New overnight recoveries increased by 91 to 9,793 in total.
Five more medical workers tested positive overnight.
The latest cases are 109 women (20-84 years old), 68 men (19-83 years old) and 19 children. 21 patients were admitted to hospitals.
Obolon has the highest number of cases, 56 in the past 24 hours.
According to the experts, such a drop in new COVID-19 cases can be explained by the ‘weekend effect’, a decline in testing because some laboratories are closed on weekends.
Over the last week the number of coronavirus hospitalisations has been growing. And as of today, again Kyiv is included in the orange epidemiological zone.
Currently, a total of 1,787 patients including 38 children are taken to hospitals with confirmed coronavirus diagnosis. 370 patients are very ill, 562 are under oxygen therapy and 33 put on invasive ventilators. 140 people are hospitalised with suspected COVID-19 diagnosis, 639 – with pneumonia.
The city continues to expand the bed capacity and increase the hospitals’ supply of personal protective equipment. The frontline healthcare workers face the highest risk of infection and we must keep them safe. With this in mind, the municipality has allocated additional ₴30 million to buy coveralls, safety shoes, gloves, face shields and masks, gowns for staffers of the municipal hospitals. In late March the city council dedicated ₴260 million from reserves to buy supplies related to the pandemic – the PPE, medications and equipment.
Also, additional budget funds are committed to cover the expenses related to the repaired oxygen flow systems at the hospitals and purchase of oxygen concentrators.
We are putting all our efforts to stop the virus spread, protect the Kyivans and help those infected with COVID-19. I want to stress though that no authority can remain aloof and devoted teamwork of the municipal and national governments is key to handle the coronavirus situation efficiently. This is why I have asked the Prime Minister and the Healthcare Minister to keep their promise and convert additional 11,000 beds located in the national hospitals in Kyiv into coronavirus beds. The answer is still pending…
Unfortunately, new infections among school students are growing. Currently, 502 classes in 188 schools across the city are back to remote learning, four schools in Kyiv are quarantined due to the positive cases among teachers. 480 school students and 359 teachers are active coronavirus cases so far.
Also, quarantined are 67 kindergarten classes in 58 kindergartens and two nursery schools. The current kindergarten attendance rate is over 54%.
The responsibility to establish the educational schedule and set the school breaks rests with school authorities. According to the suggestion of the municipal Education Department based upon the recommendation of the Education Ministry to ensure safe voting on October 25, the advised dates of autumn vacation are October 21-29, since schools are often used as vote centres. But still, much will depend on the epidemiological situation in Kyiv and if it gets worse, the schools will have to move the autumn break up.