Kyiv Mayor’s Coronavirus Update – December 9, 2020
09.12.2020
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: Over the past 24 hours there are more 1,728 positive COVID-19 cases in Kyiv, brіngіng thеіr total number to 84,538.
The death toll rose to 1,498 in Kyiv, including 34 more fatalities overnight. The total recoveries now reach 26,403, with 636 in the past 24 hours.
New cases are 983 women (18-90 years old), 611 males (18-88 years old) and 134 children. 71 healthcare workers tested positive for the coronavirus disease overnight. 127 new patients are admitted to hospital.
Darnitsky district leads with 300 new cases.
The number of hospital admissions is steadily rising. Now coronavirus hospitals in Kyiv operate at about 50 per cent capacity. Currently, there are 2,001 COVID-positive patients, including eight children. 1,201 in-patients are seriously ill, 1,419 patients require oxygen therapy and 30 invasive ventilation.
Also, let me remind you about the ongoing seasonal epidemic of flu. There are new 12,800 flu cases in Kyiv, including 7,800 adults and 5,000 children. Please, pay more attention to your health and if you feel sick, call the primary care doctor. Please, remember to observe basic healthcare recommendations.
Now some words about the situation in schools. Currently, 939 classes in 265 schools are self-isolating and learning from home, four schools in Kyiv are quarantined. 1,302 school students and almost 1,000 teachers are active coronavirus cases so far.
Also, quarantined are 191 kindergarten classes in 137 kindergartens and seven nursery schools. The current kindergarten attendance rate is 50 per cent.
Returning to the question of the mass testing in Kyiv, I want to stress that it can make sense only if it covers the entire population of Ukraine. The WHO experts recommend repeat population-wide testing. Otherwise, it is a worthless and wasteful procedure.
Answering the questions about the city-wide testing pilot in Lviv, let me tell that as far as I know, large-scale testing is not contemplated at this point. The testing itself can cost as much as ₴500 million for the municipality, apart from the logistics. Such a programme in Kyiv where the population is much bigger will require even more funds. By the way, Kyiv already has the highest testing capacity in Ukraine which exceeds 400 tests performed per 100,000 population.
The prime minister has recently announced the plans for a large-scale coronavirus testing in Ukraine, that will start from Kyiv and other big cities. According to healthcare experts, it will help identify up to 25-30 per cent of asymptomatic cases. But it looks very challenging and almost unrealistic because unfortunately, now Ukraine has no capacity to perform such amount of PCR testing simultaneously. We do not have enough tests, laboratories and trained staff.