Seven oblasts rise to Orange COVID status

Seven of Ukraine’s most populated oblasts are moving
to Orange status in terms of the COVID pandemic, the Health Ministry reported.
According to the figures released as of Oct. 6, Kharkiv and Kyiv are among the
oblasts in the Orange zone. The City of Kyiv, however, remains in Yellow, as
does Lviv Oblast, though the city of Lviv itself is moving to Red, and as of
Oct. 14, will require 100% of staff and visitors to offices and public
establishments to be vaccinated or in possession of a PCR certificate
indicating that the bearer is COVID negative.

The Health Ministry reported that 15,125 new cases of
COVID were registered on Oct. 6.

James Hydzik: The moves are not surprising, and they tend to follow the best
realistic hopes of the Ministry of Health as stated at the end of August. At
this point, travel between cities is not impacted, and it was a controversial
topic during the last wave. However, this wave is rising at a much faster rate
than the last two, and could peak higher than the 20,341 cases registered on
April 3. If the case load remains above 20,000 per day this time, intercity
public transport could be affected.