Ukraine expects COVID-19 to peak in winter with up to 5,000 new daily cases

Ukraine can expect its domestic COVID-19 epidemic to peak in winter with up to 5,000 new COVID-19 cases registered daily, Oleh Ruban, the head of State Consumer Protection Service, said in an interview with the RBK-Ukraine news site. 

One of the roles of the State Consumer Protection Service is to enforce sanitary rules.

See also: COVID-19 in Ukraine in numbers

According to Ruban, Kyiv will remain in the “orange” quarantine zone until spring 2021. 

The number of COVID-19 cases across Ukraine started to increase rapidly in August. The country has registered the record-breaking 3,584 new COVID-19 cases on Sept. 17 — the highest number of new cases recorded since the start of the pandemic. 

As of Sept. 23, a total of 184,734 cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed since the start of the pandemic. Out of them, 99,359 are active cases, some 14,000 of them in Kyiv. 

According to Ruban, as the domestic epidemic peaks, Ukraine will be registering from 3,000 to 5,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. 

Also, starting from the next week, the number of COVID-19 cases in Kyiv will start increasing since college students flocked to the capital in early September, Ruban said. 

Ruban says that the most optimistic forecast for the capital is to remain in the “orange” quarantine zone until March 2021. 

See also: Kyiv to enter ‘orange’ quarantine zone: What does it mean?

As of Sept. 23, Kyiv has the highest number of registered COVID-19 cases in Ukraine — 20,335. There are currently 13,962 active cases in the capital. 

The COVID-19 situation in Kyiv got worse by mid-August as the infection rate grew, as the COVID-19 threat level was increased to yellow.

At the beginning of August, Kyiv was in the green zone. It got the status of the orange zone on Sept. 14. 

Earlier on Sept. 21, Ukraine again changed the way quarantine zones are defined. 

With 14,000 active cases, Kyiv still remains in the orange zone, with schools, businesses, and public transport operating. Masks are required inside public establishments and transport, but not in the streets.