The topic of coronavirus with the outbreak of war receded into the background. However, COVID-19 has not gone away.. About what we have now with him and whether monitoring is carried out in an interview with ZN. UA, said the chief sanitary doctor of Ukraine Igor Kuzin, with whom Alla Kotlyar spoke.

“Now we are in the decline of the epidemic process. Active cases of the disease - about 29 thousand. Hospitalized - about 1.5 thousand. The number of new cases is falling. On the one hand, seasonality plays a key role here.. On the other hand, this, among other things, may be due to a decrease in testing, ”said Kuzin..

He added that testing services continue to be provided throughout Ukraine, with the exception of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where active hostilities are taking place.. According to the chief sanitary doctor, on average, about 3.5 thousand quick tests and about a thousand PCR studies are carried out per week..

“With such volumes of testing as it is now in a week, we record about 4 thousand new cases.. Unfortunately, lethal. Only last week - 48, including one child,"

He explained that now patients with symptoms of viral diseases are not very willing to go to doctors.. They, according to the sanitary doctor, believe that these are ordinary acute respiratory viral infections, and there are more pressing problems..

“In the first weeks of the war, especially at the stage when there were a large number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), in some regions the level of testing fell by almost 90%.. Now he is slowly recovering.. Free testing. It is carried out both at the level of primary care - using rapid tests, and by referral - in the centers for disease control and prevention. I would still advise not to forget about covid as an urgent public health problem,” added the sanitary doctor.

According to him, vaccination against coronavirus continues in all regions except Donetsk and Lugansk regions.. There are no regulatory, legal or organizational grounds for its termination.

“Of course, a significant obstacle to vaccination is the reduction of infrastructure. Previously, there were more than 3.5 thousand vaccination points, 500 mass vaccination centers and 1,400 mobile teams for hard-to-reach population groups. Now a thousand vaccination sites, almost a thousand mobile teams and about 350 mass vaccination centers have been closed due to safety issues and the reorientation of medical workers.. This certainly affects the rate of vaccination.. Until February 24, we carried out about 100 thousand vaccinations per day. Now it’s 50-60 thousand a week,” said the country’s chief sanitary doctor.

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He said that now in Ukraine 42% of the population has been vaccinated.. Two vaccines are used - CoronaVac and Pfizer. Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines are not available in the country and will not be used in the near future. Kuzin urged everyone to get vaccinated, because covid has not disappeared anywhere.

He also said that today in Ukraine a total of 11.8 million doses of vaccine residues against coronavirus. Of these, about 2.7 million doses are in regional warehouses, and more than 9 million doses are in national. The expiration date of the CoronaVac vaccine, according to Kuzin, is mainly until the end of 2023. Comirnaty from Pfizer has different deadlines. At about 500 thousand doses - by the end of May, about 200 thousand. doses - until the end of June, somewhere around 200 thousand doses - until the end of July.

“That is, all available Comirnaty vaccine can be used up to a maximum of July 31, 2022.. We have already submitted a request to the COVAX mechanism and will expect new deliveries after July 31. But I want to note: most likely, we will switch to another type of vaccine from Pfizer. So far, we have used the Comirnaty vaccine, which must be diluted before administration.. It is essentially a powder with a solvent that has been transported at ultra-low temperatures.. Pfizer has now introduced a new product. Efficiency is the same. But completely ready to use and more convenient. It does not need additional dilution, and storage conditions are simpler - from +2 to +8C,"

The chief medical officer also expressed hope that by the end of July it would be possible to use all the doses of Pfizer. But, as Kuzin pointed out, they will look at the rate of vaccination.

“Now we have about 6 million doses of Comirnaty vaccine on the leftovers.. With vaccination rates of 50-60 thousand per week, which are, there are high risks of non-use. Therefore, now we have launched the maximum number of possible mobile teams in the western direction, as well as additional vaccination activities in IDP accommodations,” the medical officer explained.

Kuzin said that a new strain of the virus is now circulating in China, and there are already some reports in Europe.. However, there is still not enough information to draw any concrete conclusions.. He explained that RNA-containing viruses quickly mutate, and this has already been discussed more than once.. However, according to the sanitary doctor, it is not worth scaring Ukrainians with a new, some particularly severe wave of coronavirus..

First, the so-called molecular surveillance continues. In each region of the country, strains circulating there are taken. They are sequenced and looked at to what extent they correspond to European or global trends.. This is an expensive and lengthy study..

“Since the beginning of the war, more than 750 such. The results show the prevalence of the omicron strain that we encountered at the beginning of 2022. There were no new, mutated strains based on the results of molecular surveillance,” Kuzin noted..

Secondly, no additional waves are expected in the near future due to seasonality.. Still, in summer people spend more time outdoors than indoors, and the number of OVRI is always less.

Thirdly, earlier new strains entered Ukraine rather quickly due to population migration, primarily international, especially tourist travel, the number of which is now minimal..

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Kuzin noted that many countries are already converting covid into a seasonal or endemic disease. According to WHO recommendations, Ukraine is now calculating epidemic thresholds, trying to take into account covid as an element of common SARS..

“That is, covid still remains a particularly dangerous infectious disease, since it has not yet been fully studied due to the rapid mutation of the virus.. But monitoring approaches will change. Accounting for each person remains. However, epidemic thresholds (outbreak or not) will be calculated for each region separately, together with other SARS.. We hope to complete this work during the summer in order to enter the new, autumn epidemic season with other approaches,” Kuzin added..

He noted that after receiving a booster dose of the vaccine, the validity of the certificate is 9 months.. WHO and European Center for Infectious Disease Control recommend booster vaccinations every 9 months. Especially with a focus on risk groups. Most likely, such tactics will be applied in Ukraine as well..

The day before, the government extended the nationwide quarantine until August 31, 2022.. As a result, the state of emergency has been extended..