Since early October, more than 1.3 million Ukrainians have contracted SARS, flu and COVID-19

These figures are 41% up, compared to the same period last year. In particular, since October, there have been almost 80 thousand cases of COVID-19 reported in Ukraine.

Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health, and the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine, made this statement during a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. 

“The flu, ARVI, and coronavirus infection have resulted in 1.3 million illnesses in Ukraine since October, statistically. That’s rather a quite large number. However, compared to last year’s season, the absolute figure has seen an increase of almost 41%. The reason for this is that a past year’s season incidence was tracked from causes of influenza and SARS separately, this year there is a combined system of epidemiological surveillance when we count epidemic thresholds for covid as well,” he said.

Ihor Kuzin noted that in Europe, most countries currently report that the currently circulating influenza virus has not yet emerged or is still at a moderate level. At the same time, the Chief Sanitary Doctor added, based on last year’s experience, we can say that this process could peak in late December.

Accordingly, the situation with epidemic thresholds in Ukraine will change from week to week. Currently, the threshold has been exceeded in only one Ukraine’s Chernivtsi region. 

According to the Chief Sanitary Doctor, about four thousand patients at risk or with severe illnesses are hospitalized every week in Ukraine.

“In our assessment of the current situation in Ukraine, there are mostly newly reported COVID-19 cases, and this is what causes hospitalization and severe cases. Since October, there have been almost 80 thousand confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported. When it comes to healthcare facilities reports, an average of about four thousand patients are admitted to a hospital in a week. Patients with severe cases or those at risk are hospitalized, and this is quite reasonable to ensure the provision of adequate medical care. On average, we report 130 to 150 thousand such cases every week,” added Ihor Kuzin.

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