09 March 2021, Tuesday, 18:36 170

Zelenskyy Against New Lockdown And For Vaccination Rate Increase

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opposes the possible introduction of a new lockdown, and also advocates an increase in the rate of vaccination to combat another increase in the growth of the incidence of the coronavirus.

This is indicated in a statement on the President's website following the results of the traditional conference call on countering COVID-19, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The correct answer to today's increase in the number of patients with the coronavirus infection is vaccination, not a lockdown. This is the decision so that there is not a large increase in patients. We are approaching the middle of March and should provide more opportunities for people to receive the first doses of the vaccine, especially if they work for the front line of the fight against the coronavirus," he said.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that over the week the number of hospitalizations increased from 17,600 to 21,000.

"Today, 29,573 beds are occupied. In total, 70,157 beds have been allocated for COVID-19, of which 60,000 are provided with oxygen. The number of occupied intensive care beds has also increased - from 1,500 to 2,000. This means that the number of severe cases is increasing," he said.

The prime minister recalled that the red level was introduced in four regions with a wide spread of morbidity: Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia and Zhytomyr.

At that, almost 10 more regions are in the orange zone and close to the red level.

At the same time, the Ministry of Health reported about the stabilization of the situation in the Carpathian area.

"The head of state stressed that our country needs to increase the rate of vaccination. For this, he proposed to involve mobile teams and resources of other departments, except the Ministry of Health, and to carefully respond to cases of misinformation about vaccinations," the statement says.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that the Interior Ministry has trained 50 mobile teams that will help take part in the vaccination.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov assured that negotiations are being actively carried out on Ukraine's receipt of vaccines from COVID-19.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Shmyhal previously announced the beginning of the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic in Ukraine and allowed the introduction of a new lockdown.