Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – April 7, 2020
07.04.2020
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: 12 more positive coronavirus cases have been reported in the past 24 hours. The majority of them are locally transmitted. The new cases include four children (two 3-year old girls and boys of 6 and 20 years old) and a medical worker. Unfortunately, a 36-year old man infected with coronavirus died. Since his lungs were badly damaged by the virus, he was on ECMO therapy. For almost two weeks the medical staff of Oleksandrivska hospital has been fighting to save his life but unfortunately, failed.
The new cases include three women, aged 34-41 and five men, aged 31-67. Two patients are under medical treatment in hospitals, others are self-isolating. By Tuesday there are 279 confirmed cases in Kyiv.
So I appeal to Kyivans to take the threat seriously. If you fееl sуmрtоms, please immediately contact your doctor and follow his recommendations.
The Plaquenil, an anti-malarial drug has already been delivered to the Kyiv hospitals. Now it is used arоund the world to treat COVID-19. Besides, another batch of 200,000 facial masks is available to buy in the municipal Pharmacia pharmacies as of today.
Let me remind that the database of the Kyiv COVID-19 Response Monitoring Centre contains information of some 40,000 Kyivans who are at higher risk of spreading the virus. Those are people who have returned from the coronavirus-hit countries and had contacts with already sick people. At the moment the Centre has already made some 1,500 phone calls to inquire after people who are in isolation right now. It also ensures that those who are sick or at risk of becoming infected or hаvе bееn аrоund sоmеоnе with COVID-19 are staying at home. The Centre also provides medical guidance, psychological treatment and emotional support. It has employed a practice of similar facilities of Singapore and Seul to ensure that all suspicious cases are detected and quarantined.
A refusal to provide the information is an offence. Please note that all information the Centre obtains remains confidential and protected. So the recent ‘leaks’ of the data on social media are obviously fake.
At the moment the law enforcement officers issued 574 penalty notices to people breaching the restrictions. First five tickets have already brought in nearly ₴92,000. One person was criminally charged with making a threat of intentional spreading COVID-19 and three individuals with a violation of the medical observation order.
As mayor of Ukraine’s capital city and the chairman of the Association of Ukrainian Cities I fully aware that local communities across the country are left to combat the coronavirus on their own. They face a shortage of equipment, protective gear and medications. The Association has prepared a list of the most wanted medical supplies and I requested the donors to help the cities, towns and villages in their efforts to curb the virus spread. We would highly appreciate any support and contribution in this context.
As you know, Ukraine’s government orders all Ukrainians returning from overseas to face 14 days of medical observation. Some ministries have аррrоvеd a few state-owned hotels and camps as quarantine facilities. Kyiv has also set up four medical observation centres for Kyivans which can accommodate up to 3,000 quarantined people. Currently, in Kyiv 207 individuals are under medical observation for 14 days. A few more gоvernmеnt еvаcuаtіоn flіghts are ехресtеd this wееk, and we have no information about the number of evacuated Kyivans so far.
Let me address another issue, a ban on outdoor exercises. I am also missing my physical activities. Now I have to work out at home. You see, sportsmen should also take coronavirus seriously. Like all other people they are not protected from the infection and the imposed restrictions apply to them as well. Athletes should fear for their lives due to COVID-19 rather than for being out of shape!
I do hope that soon we will be able to return to our normal life. And the city must be ready for that. Since the street are not clogged now, the road repair crews have even intensified their efforts. By early May we expect to complete the repairs of the first part of Borschahivsky overpass and open it to traffic, and then start the work on the other half. Well underway is massive road renovation of Lubomyr Huzar avenue, Pokrovska, Pushkinska, Mikilsko-Botanychna streets.
We are making a lot of progress on construction sites of Podilsko-Voskresensky bridge, Bohatyrsky overpass and metro extension to Vynohradar.
Upgrade work is being carried out at some city metro stations. Currently, work crews renovate escalators at two metro stations. Overall there are 122 escalators across the city metro system and all of them will be under maintenance or reconstruction.
Thank you and do follow the restriction rules to get through this tough time sooner.