Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – December 16, 2020
16.12.2020
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: With 1,858 new positive coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the number of infections in Kyiv has reached 95,160.
29,897 patients have recovered, 347 overnight. The number of deaths increased by 21, bringing the death toll to 1,631.
New cases are 1,001 women (18-91 age range), 716 men (18-94 years old) and 141 children. There are also 70 new cases among medical workers. 52 Kyivans were admitted to hospitals.
Darnytsky district leads with almost 600 new virus transmissions.
Hospital admissions have dropped a bit, but the proportion of seriously ill patients remains high. 1,998 patients including 16 children are taken to hospitals with confirmed coronavirus diagnosis. 1,169 people are very ill, 1,444 are under oxygen therapy and 32 put on invasive ventilators. Today’s bed occupancy rate stands at 48% in Kyiv.
Speaking about the testing capacity, it is the highest in Ukraine and stands at 320 tests per 100,000 population. Tests are being run by municipal, privately-owned and state health facilities. Since the beginning of the outbreak in Kyiv, the municipal healthcare facilities have carried out over 268,000 PCR tests and about 91,500 antibody tests so far.
The mobile response brigades continue to collect samples of the people with symptoms at home. In total, they have taken over 168,500 samples of the individuals.
Sсhооls sее a slight rеduсtіоn in nеw infections. Though three of them remain quarantined, the number of students that learn remotely has dropped. Now 698 classes in 227 schools learn at home. The active coronavirus cases are 1,014 school students and 780 teachers.
The number of kindergarten groups under quarantine has also fallen to 147. Four entire pre-schools are temporarily closed. The current kindergarten attendance reaches 55%.
Addressing the issue of restrictions being placed on public transport operation during the upcoming lockdown in January, I want to reassure that there are no plans to сlоsе down the trаnsроrt nеtwоrk in Kyiv.
According to the national government’s decision, the metro will continue with regular hours of operation. The ground public transport (512 buses, 328 trolley-buses and 266 trams which are currently operating in Kyiv), the metro and privately-owned marshrutkas will carry only seated passengers (one person per seat). Facial masks are mandatory both for passengers and transport staff. The intensified cleaning routines will remain in place for the municipal public transport fleet.
Still, please remember that it is unsafe to ride the public transport which accounts for almost 30% of all virus transmissions in Kyiv. This is why I am urging you to stay away from public transportation as much as possible and take public buses only for essential travel.