Ukraine begins opening hospitals of the second COVID-19 wave

The Ukrainian government is preparing hospitals for
the second wave of the coronavirus owing to rising infections and
hospitalizations, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told his daily press briefing
on Aug. 10. “Already the Lviv region has exceeded the threshold of 50% of
hospital bed occupancy. Of course, we have started opening hospitals of the
second wave, and we can’t approach the COVID-19 disease carelessly,” he said.

Stepanov dismissed the claims of some experts who said
new infections surged in the last week owing to intensified testing. At the
same time, he acknowledged that testing has increased to 15,000 per day
currently from 200 daily in early April. “Besides those identified as ill with
COVID-19, the number of those hospitalized has increased, who need inpatient
medical care. And this is a very alarming signal,” he said. About 10,230
hospital beds have been prepared for the second wave, as well as 1,442
artificial lung ventilators.

Stepanov stressed the need for the public to
understand the rules of peculiarities of the quarantine, particularly the state
policy of the adaptive quarantine. “We need to explain to people why one city
is designated a red zone, and another a green zone,” he said.

The number of unemployed citizens has been falling
with every month, as reported by the State Employment Center. About 149,000
registered themselves as unemployed in April, followed by 970,000 in May,
75,000 in June and 68,000 in July, the center said. In all, about 502,000
Ukrainians are registered as unemployed as of Aug. 6. The majority of those, or
about 406,000 citizens, joined the jobless rolls between June 12 and Aug. 4.

Cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the
coronavirus reached 1,158 on Aug. 10, compared to 1,008 on Aug. 9 and 1,199 on
Aug. 8, according to the National Security and Defense Council. Twenty-nine
people died on Aug. 10, while 575 recovered and 266 were hospitalized. The most
new infections were in the Lviv (161) and Odesa (134) regions.

Zenon Zawada: Despite
Stepanov’s claims, we believe it’s quite possible that the intensified testing
has resulted in higher reports of infections. Moreover, the higher
hospitalizations could be the result of higher awareness and preparedness,
compared to the spring. A host of other factors deserve consideration as well,
such as financial incentives.

The declining number of those filing for unemployment
is encouraging, however it doesn’t take into account the hundreds of thousands
of unemployed E.U. seasonal workers, or those who travel back and forth for
work. They won’t register for unemployment in seek of wages that are half of
what they earned abroad.

Despite all these figures, the overall coronavirus
situation in Ukraine is remarkably stable. Political protests aren’t as active
as we had expected, though campaigning for the local elections is intensifying.