Coronavirus (COVID-19) test kits will be delivered to Ukraine on March 15-16, Deputy Health Minister of Ukraine Viktor Liashko has told a press briefing in Kyiv on March 10.
“If private medical facilities and pharmacies start purchasing them, it will be possible to check [for the virus] there. One [test kit] will cost around UAH 360. We are currently expecting a centralized supply of 1,000 test kits at the state level,” he said.
Liashko added that a batch of 50 test kits, each designed for testing 100 samples, will arrive in Ukraine soon.
“They have departed from Copenhagen. We are expecting them to arrive today or tomorrow,” he said.
The deputy minister also said that COVID-19 test kits will be distributed among regional laboratories this week.
“This will reduce the time of research and increase the number of people who undergo testing. We are preparing to possible growth of the number of COVID-19 cases. This week we will pass [the test kits] to Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, which have necessary equipment. The next priority regions are Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia and Lviv,” he said.
Liashko also said that the condition of the man, who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Chernivtsi, is stable.
“The man with the registered [COVID-19] case is under observation in the infectious disease hospital. His condition is stable. His condition did not get worse, however the patient continues to stay isolated until he stops generating the virus,” he said.
Liashko also said that the laboratory of the Public Health Center carried out 20 tests during the past weekend and all of them proved negative. He added that results of another four tests for suspected COVID-19 cases will be reported soon.
There are no specific territories with the highest number of suspected COVID-19 cases in Ukraine, Liashko said.
“Today we have received the results from London-based central laboratory of the World Health Organization. They confirmed the results received by our laboratory. They confirmed the qualification of our specialists,” the deputy minister said.
He also said that the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine keeps in touch with the Ukrainian citizens who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or have suspected COVID-19 cases.
“Some 49 Ukrainians are currently being quarantined. These are mainly the people on board of a ship near California. All of those infected are in stable condition,” the deputy minister said.
There are various algorithms of introducing restrictions on mass events, Liashko said, adding that these algorithms may change depending on circumstances.
