Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – April 16, 2020
16.04.2020
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, the number of new positive COVID-19 cases rose by 32. The total number of infections in Kyiv has reached 644.
There is one more positive COVID-19 case among medical workers and, sadly, one more coronavirus death.
11 new cases are women aged 29-80 and 20 are men, 19-60 years old. A two-year-old girl was also соnfіrmеd роsіtіvе. Three patients were admitted to the city’s hospitals and others are self-isolating, under medical care.
Kyiv-Pecherska Lavra remains shut down and put under quarantine. Clergymen with mild symptoms have been placed under close observation. They are self-isolating in the monastery’s territory. At the moment the laboratories treat another 32 samples collected in Lavra.
New positive coronavirus cases have been detected among clerics of Ioninsky monastery. Currently, groups of medics are working there to sanitise the premises and examine the monks. A decision to shut it down as a coronavirus cluster is still pending.
Now I want to comment on the rumours about the alleged lockdown of the city hospital No. 6. The hospital closes for new patients but it is still providing treatment for patients who have been urgently admitted earlier, including those with pneumonia. 15 health workers at the hospital tested positive for coronavirus. The majority of them are staying home, under medical treatment.
Overall, 19 frontline medics have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in Kyiv so far. More 179 are recovering at home. All facilities whose medical staff had been tested positive have undergone thorough sanitisation procedures and do not take any new patients.
From now on all patients with pneumonia diagnosis are being tested for coronavirus. We also test all medical workers exposed to known COVID-19 patients, using the PCR method.
Let me also remind that as of today the police together with health care workers closely monitor the incoming traffic at nine city’s entry points. All drivers and passengers will undergo a mandatory temperature screening. And I am urging the employers to let their employees work remotely for at least a week since the healthcare experts warn of a dramatic spike of new cases around Easter. The police will intensify patrols during Easter to ensure compliance with the stay-home order.
Please, understand that we have to escalate our response to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system due to the expected peak after Easter. Let me say it once again, celebrate Easter at home, avoid churches and parks! It is a matter of your life and health!
To stop the virus from spreading for more than a month the city has been disinfecting its streets and roads, public transport vehicles and stops. Every day over 50 municipal service trucks use 600-700 litres of sanitisers to clean the streets and absolutely all public transport stops.
Every single day public areas of 11,500 Kyiv’s residential buildings, including entrance halls, staircases, elevators, courtyards and garbage bins are also being cleaned and disinfected. Buildings, where residents have tested positive for coronavirus or are self-isolating, are being disinfected by the rescuers under the WHO guidance.
The pandemic the whole world is facing today has caused a most severe economic crisis. Even such big players as the USA and China face the deepest economic downturn. It is obvious, that Ukraine’s economy has been hit hard by the pandemic. Kyiv is no exception.
Due to the pandemic, Ukraine’s capital city has already lost over ₴1 billion so far and the losses can actually be much higher. Uncertainty about when the restrictions can be lifted makes the situation more distressing.
In this in mind, the City Council has already cut back on spending by ₴4,1 billion. This measure is painful but necessary to help the city get through the recession and return to normal life. I want to emphasize that the crucial infrastructure funding remained intact and the city is making good progress on major upgrade and construction projects.
There has been a lot of speculation about whether there was a need to extend the restrictions. There is one thing I want to clarify. According to the estimate of Ukraine’s Health Ministry, if not for restrictions imposed early, we would have had about 17,000 positive coronavirus cases across the country. The virus is dangerous and aggressive. It has spread around the world in just a few weeks. At least 2 million people have tested positive for the virus globally, and over 128,000 people have died.
Now Italy reports 165,000 coronavirus cases and almost 22,000 fatalities. Italy seemed reluctant to take the threat seriously at first and could not contain the virus spread afterwards.
People who are sharing nonsense about COVID-19 on social media or urge others to breach quarantine orders endanger not only their own life but also lives of us all.
China’s approach to flatten the curve of COVID-19 is often said to be very efficient. But let me remind that the authorities there have imposed very strict two-month lockdown with which the Chinese people strictly complied.
The situation here is more stable due to the early lockdown measures. We are doing well, with lesser coronavirus cases than in the European countries. But still, the risk remains high and the situation can rapidly turn to the worse, leaving no time for conspiracy theories and jokes.
The city government does everything possible to contain the spread of the infection.
Please, help us and respect the restriction rules! Stay safe and healthy!