Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – October 13, 2020
13.10.2020
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: 397 more persons hаvе tеstеd pоsіtіvе for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours. At the moment the total number of confirmed cases in Kyiv rose to 28,090. 497 people have died, ten of them in the past 24 hours. 168 more recovered to bring the total number of recoveries to 9,961.
Among infected are 214 women (age range 20-88), 157 men, aged 18-84 years and 26 children. 23 healthcare workers are among new cases. 65 patients were admitted to hospitals.
The highest number of new cases,86 came from Darnytsa followed by Desniansky district with 81 new infections.
In response to such prevalence of COVID-19, Kyiv is building up its testing capacity which stands at 301 tests conducted per 100,000 population. This is the highest amount in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the municipal laboratories have carried out over 150,500 PCR tests and almost 27,000 antibody tests so far.
The mobile response brigades continue to collect samples of the people with symptoms at home. In total, almost 95,600 Kyivans have tested for the infection at home, with 1,096 overnight.
The tests are being run also by privately-owned and state health facilities.
The municipality is also scaling up the bed capacity in coronavirus municipal hospitals and helps replenish their medical supplies.
Over 2,730 beds in 22 city COVID-19 hospitals have been deployed so far. 17 health facilities already admit and treat the infected patients, while the other five hospitals are preparing their infectious disease units to new admissions.
Those are hospitals No.18, No.1, No.12, No.15 and the Kyiv Centre for Radiation Protection.
Yesterday I visited the city hospital No.18, which is converting a floor into COVID-19 unit, to inspect the preparation progress. The unit will accommodate 100 coronavirus beds as well as some fully equipped intensive care rooms. 80 beds will have oxygen supply equipment. The municipality has dedicated almost ₴3 million to buy four ventilators and ₴4 million to buy the PPE and disinfection equipment, over ₴1 million to repair the oxygen system and over ₴300,000 for medications. The hospital has already added 60 beds in another unit to admit patients with the suspected diagnosis. The hospital has also provided training for staffers аssіgnеd to handle COVID-19 cases.
Let me stress that the municipality bears the burden of preparation alone, with no help from the national government. Thus, 11,000 beds and fully qualified staff of Kyiv-based national healthcare facilities are still unavailable for the infected Kyivans. Now, when our hospitals can run out of beds anytime, that attitude is something that leaves me perplexed. It is not about a stаtеsmаnshір.
Unfortunately, the situation in schools gets worse. Currently, five schools in Kyiv are closed due to the positive cases among teachers. 520 classes in 174 schools across the city are in self-isolation due to virus transmissions among students. A total of 591 school students and 403 teachers are active coronavirus cases so far.
The transmission rate is also growing among younger kids. Two entire preschools and 74 groups in 66 kindergartens across the city are quarantined and temporarily closed. The current kindergarten attendance rate is over 55%.