Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – June 5, 2020
05.06.2020
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: Unfortunately, I have more sad news. The number of coronavirus cases has risen to 3292, with new 82 cases overnight. Also, we recorded four new virus-deaths and this is the highest dеаth tаll in a sіnglе dау since the beginning of the outbreak. 27 more Kyivans rесоvеrеd оvеrnіght to brіng the total number of recoveries to 876.
New cases include 47 females (19-94 age range), 28 males (22-77 years old) and seven children. There are also 14 new cases among medical workers. 16 persons were admitted to hospitals.
Darnytsky district leads in new cases, with 21 residents infected over the past 24 hours.
I want parents to pay attention, there are still many infections among children. Yesterday 12 children were registered positive, today seven kids got infected with the virus. Since the beginning of the outbreak, there have been almost 270 cases among babies, young children and teens who account for 8% of all infections in Kyiv.
Dear parents, please remember that you are responsible for your children’s health. Take care of your kids and explain the basic health and safety rules to them!
The principal of School No. 197 has tested positive to coronavirus and was admitted to the city hospital. In recent days she interacted with a wide circle of contacts, including 120 school staff members, officials of the district education department as well as principals of six other city schools, three of which are established for administering the national high school graduation test. Currently, the National Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection checks the mentioned schools and other facilities to track down the principal’s contacts who will have to self-isolate.
Now the next very important issue. The government, as you may know, allows the cities that match three reopening criteria to move to the next stage of easing the quarantine and reopen restaurants, cafes and swimming pools as of June 5.
Unfortunately, Kyiv exceeds the requirement of 12 cases registered per 100,000 population. So we cannot put the health of Kyivans at risk and loosen the restrictions further. I understand that businesses will be affected but we do not want the restrictions to return, do we? This is why the decision on restaurants and swimming pools reopening is still pending until the next week.
The risk of catching the virus in public transport is increasingly higher since its ridership is growing with each day. For example, yesterday buses, trolleybuses and trams carried almost 600,000 passengers. The Kyiv Metro delivers almost 800,000 rides a day. To prevent crowds Metro limits the number of passengers entering some stations in peak hours. Also, unfortunately many more riders now ignore the health precautions, and not wear facial masks.
I would like to urge everyone to avoid travelling without a valid reason and to follow health guidelines while riding. Otherwise, we will see the virus spike and quarantine back. Please, keep this in mind!