Ukraine might be on the verge of a new COVID-19 outbreak, according to Yuriy Ganichenkov, the head of the Health Economics Center at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).
Ganichenkov made a gloomy forecast during an online briefing on July 6.
According to the expert, the new coronavirus wave might hit Ukraine due to the current case spike in Europe, which coincided with the holiday season when everyone travels around and might further spread the infection. The number of COVID-19 cases in Europe has grown by 44% in the last week, Ganichenkov says.
“An outbreak might emerge in Ukraine at the end of July-August, depending on how fast the British, South African and Indian variants of the virus will spread,” Ganichenkov says.
Some experts believe that the new rise of COVID-19 cases in Europe, especially Spain, is the result of the low vaccination rate among youth.
The COVID-19 situation in Ukraine has recently been stable, with some of the lowest levels of hospital bed occupancy in the whole pandemic, according to Ganichenkov.
However, the vaccination pace remains slow. Since the start of the campaign in late February, only 898,311 people, or about 2% of Ukraine’s population, have been fully vaccinated.
