A second person has died from the novel coronavirus in Ukraine, while the total number of confirmed cases in the country has grown to 14, Ukraine’s health ministry reported on March 17.
The numbers come as a result of testing conducted by the virological reference laboratory at the Center for Public Health.
A 33-year-old woman from Chernivtsi Oblast, who previously came into contact with an infected person, died on March 17 from the coronavirus.
Ukraine is among the European countries with the smallest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, which has infected at least 197,135 and killed 7,950 people worldwide.
Five new cases of the infection were registered in the same oblast — they all were exposed to an infected person. The list includes individuals aged 31 and 18, as well as three children — a 10-year-old, a one-year-old, and a six-month-old baby.
Chernivtsi Oblast, which is located some 500 kilometers southwest from Kyiv, announced a state of emergency on March 14 after detecting two cases of the infection.
The health ministry confirmed one more case on March 17, a 44-year-old man in Kyiv Oblast who recently traveled abroad.
According to the Center for Public Health, its laboratory has tested 640 people so far, but only 156 of them were suspected cases of the infection.
The laboratory tests not only those who are suspected to have been infected, but also those who came into contact with infected individuals.
Among all of the suspected cases, 114 tested negative, while 28 more are currently under laboratory testing.
The Center for Public Health says that most people with the coronavirus have symptoms of a regular acute respiratory infection.
Of Ukraine’s 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus, ten were detected in Chernivtsi Oblast, two in Kyiv, one in Zhytomyr Oblast and one more in Kyiv Oblast.
The first lethal COVID-19 case in Ukraine killed a 71-year-old woman on March 13 in Radomysl, a city of 14,700 people some 110 kilometers west of Kyiv, in Zhytomyr Oblast.
CORONAVIRUS IN UKRAINE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Ukraine shuts down public transportation, domestic travel, restaurants
- Kyiv intensifies quarantine, shutting down everything by supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, gas stations.
- There have been 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine. The first case was identified in Ukraine on March 3.
- Two people died from the COVID-19 in Ukraine.
- Ukraine shut schools and canceled mass events starting March 12 to prevent the disease’s spread. Some schools resisted.
- Here’s how life in Kyiv is affected.
- Why the Kyiv Post isn’t making its coverage free in the times of COVID-19.
- Doctor’s advice: How to stay safe.
- Ukrainians evacuated from the disease’s epicenter in Wuhan, China spent two weeks in quarantine in a sanatorium in Poltava Oblast and were released on March 5. Their arrival in Ukraine caused unrest.
Effects on economy:
- Here’s what the virus is doing to Ukraine’s economy.
- Ukrainian businesses respond to the crisis.
- The virus disrupts the transport sector. Ukrainian airlines canceled some flights to 16 countries due to the novel coronavirus.
- The National Bank of Ukraine continued to cut the policy rate while trying to buffer the hryvnia from coronavirus panic.
