Despite the war, the coronavirus has not disappeared anywhere/АР
In Ukraine, there are still cases of coronavirus, sometimes even fatal. The predominant strain circulating in the country is Omicron, which causes milder symptoms than its predecessors.
Igor Kuzin, Chief State Sanitary Doctor, spoke about this on the air of the national telethon. According to him, the number of cases of COVID-19 infection has indeed decreased since the start of a full-scale war.
Coronavirus has not disappeared anywhere
Kuzin said that with In the first days of the full-scale war, the level of testing fell by almost 90%. This situation occurred almost throughout the territory of Ukraine. Only a few areas showed the same trends as in the pre-war period.
“Now, on average, we conduct about 3.5 thousand tests using rapid diagnostic methods. This testing is mainly at the level of primary care. And 1100 – 1200 PCR studies. This is when a patient is hospitalized or he has a full-fledged molecular study” , the doctor noted.
According to him, new cases of coronavirus infection are still being recorded. However, their number has decreased significantly.
“In total, during the week we register about 4 thousand new cases of COVID-19 infection. And unfortunately, there are also deaths,” Kuzin added.
The doctor noted that there are cases of infection among medical workers. At the same time, the total number of cases is indeed less than before the war.
Omicron is mainly circulating in Ukraine
Kuzin noted that the mortality rate is now at a fairly low level. A week later, 20-30 people die from complications of the coronavirus. This is much less than during peak loads and peak waves of COVID-19.
The so-called molecular epidemiological surveillance continues in Ukraine. This means that we take samples of COVID-19, this virus, from every territory, in every region, and decipher the genome. We are looking at what strains are circulating in Ukraine. So, Omicron continues to circulate in Ukraine,” the chief medical officer noted.
He added that this strain causes much milder cases that disguise themselves as a common SARS and pass in 3-4 days. More often, Omicron does not lead to a severe course of the disease.
