Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – April 9
09.04.2021
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: Coronavirus numbers and hospitalisations are steadily climbing across Ukraine and in this Kyiv is not an exception.
We have new 1,864 coronavirus positive cases in the past 24 hours, reaching 174,267 in total. There are 48 more virus-related fatalities reported overnight, taking the death toll to 3,797. There are 688 more recoveries, raising their total number to 110,137.
The latest cases are 1,087 women (18-90 years old), 732 men (18-86 years old) and 45 children. Today’s 62 is the highest number of daily new cases among medical professionals since the beginning of the outbreak in Kyiv.
156 people are admitted to hospitals with confirmed coronavirus diagnosis and more 479 with suspected disease.
Desniansky city district has the highest infection rate, with 423 new cases.
Covid-19 hospital cases remain steadily high. Currently, 4633 people, including 43 children are being treated in hospitals. 3,240 in-patients are very ill, in serious medical condition, 76 of them are on a ventilator and 3,885 need supplemental oxygen. The bed occupancy rate reaches 77 per cent.
I want to underline a significant increase in new coronavirus cases in children. More and more of them have severe Covid-19. There are even children who need oxygen therapy – something that we have never seen before during the pandemic.
Worryingly, the coronavirus deaths also jumped. The majority of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Kyiv are people with pre-existing health problems: diabetes, heart disease or obesity. A total of 1,770 women and 2,027 men have died in Kyiv since the beginning of the outbreak. Their median age is 70 years old. 800 fatalities are in the 50-64 age group. Still, due to a more complicated course of COVID-19 deaths rose dramatically among younger patients. 211 Kyivans aged 30-49 died so far.
Yesterday the Kyiv City Council approved some important response measures for Kyiv. In particular, the City Council called on the national government and the Health Ministry to make the health facilities, affiliated with specific ministries available to patients from Kyiv – a total of 10,000 beds that are desperately needed. The senior officials from the government and Health Ministry and staff of the Academy of Medical Science continue to ignore the interests of Kyivans. This is an unacceptable state of affairs especially now when the situation in both Ukraine and its’ capital city calls for urgent and strong measures.
We are seeing fast-growing numbers of very sick coronavirus patients across Ukraine. Hospitals are running above their capacity, facing a shortage of oxygen-supported beds and staff. Fragmentary restrictions failed to achieve the desired effect. Ukraine is among the European countries with the fastest spread of Covid-19 and the highest fatality rate. Since the beginning of April, over nine days 3,556 people have died in Ukraine, including those 392 in Kyiv.
The prevalence rate is terrifying… The country has no access to large-scale vaccinations. How many people have to get infected and die before the government introduces severe restrictive measures nationwide?
With this in mind, I am calling on the government to impose a national lockdown, including an interstate travel ban and enforced compliance. We see that restrictions are staying in place in many European countries, even though people there respect those measures and keep getting vaccinated.
I understand that severe restrictions will badly affect the people and the economy. But still, this is a necessary decision to stop the virus spread and save many lives.
Yesterday the Kyiv City Council extended the relief measures to help the SMEs and save jobs. In particular, a permit fee on urban beautification for open-air cafes and restaurant terraces as well as other food vendors was reduced down from 50 per cent to ₴1. A permit fee for outdoor advertisers was halved. Also, the municipality will reimburse the interest of loans and credit lines for the extended list of SMEs and will additionally expand the list of partnering banks.
Even though the city is going to see a drop-off in tax revenues, we are set to support Kyivans and lessen the impacts of the coronavirus crisis.