You're reading: COVID-19 in Ukraine: 7,729 new cases, 144 new deaths, 9,792 recoveries

Ukraine has registered 7,729 new cases of COVID-19 as of 9 a.m. on Jan. 16, bringing the total number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic to over 1.15 million

In the past 24 hours, 9,792 COVID-19 patients have recovered and 144 have died.

A total of 857,183 people have recovered from COVID-19 and 20,686 have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic.

In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian laboratories have carried out 29,363 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 19,337 antibody tests. Over 5.9 million PCR tests have been conducted since the start of the pandemic.

Ukraine’s daily COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries from Dec. 1, 2020 to Jan. 15, 2021. All data were released by the Ministry of Health.

The largest numbers of new cases have been recorded in the city of Kyiv (821) and Kyiv Oblast (474), Zaporizhia Oblast (696), Dnipro Oblast (586), Lviv Oblast (485) and Mykolayiv Oblast (409). The least new cases were detected in Kherson Oblast – only 63 new cases were recorded.

Starting on Jan. 14, Ukraine fines business owners if their employees or customers don’t wear face masks. The fines can range between $122 and $183.

Ukraine’s daily new COVID-19 cases and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the most accurate way of diagnosing the novel coronavirus, between Dec. 1, 2020 and Jan. 15, 2021.

According to the law passed by the government on Jan. 13, when employees notice a customer without a mask, they have to stop servicing them and call the police if the person refuses to put on their mask. A mask has to cover both the nose and mouth.

During the briefing on Jan. 13, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that Ukraine will be under quarantine until Feb. 28. Meanwhile, a lockdown, when all non-essential businesses are closed, started on Jan. 8 and will last until Jan. 24. The government said on Jan. 15 that it will not prolong the lockdown after that date.

Here’s a full list of businesses that will be closed.

The Health Ministry will not cancel the lockdown earlier because that could increase the burden on the country’s hospitals, Stepanov said. According to him, the number of COVID-19 cases in Ukraine is expected to go up after the winter holidays because many Ukrainians traveled to other cities, visited New Year’s celebrations and didn’t follow quarantine rules.