In terms of the coronavirus, July turned out to be an extremely strange month for Ukraine: the number of patients is steadily growing, in large cities they are preparing to open second-wave hospitals, but no effective steps are being taken to eliminate the threat.
How Ukrainians suffered from COVID-19, and why nothing is being done, our correspondent understood.
From minimum to anti-record
In July, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine recorded 25 cases of coronavirus infection - this is approximately one third of the total number of registered patients since March. And if in the spring we experienced a total quarantine, although the number of sick people was in the dozens, today there are de facto restrictions as such, although at least 550 new patients are recorded every day.
It is obvious to the naked eye that the epidemiological situation in Ukraine is close to catastrophic. However, much depends on the number of conducted PCR tests. The Ministry of Health has long been criticized for the relatively small number of tests performed: among European countries, we are in second last place, if we take into account the number of tests per 1 million people.
And as statistics show, the number of tests really affects the number of patients, as can be seen in the table below.
However, even with this level of testing, Ukraine ranks 8th in Europe in terms of the number of identified patients with COVID-19.
Hence, a logical question arises: what number of patients in Ukraine will be recorded if we start testing in our country in the same way as in Germany or Britain?
When to wait for the second wave?
Why does the Ministry of Health pursue such a strange policy? One of the options: lack of necessary resources. We need more laboratories with the appropriate staff and equipment, however, it is obvious that there is a shortage of such a "product" in Ukraine. So it is quite difficult to physically carry out more tests.
The following variant from the "conspiracy theory" category. It is already being said that the second wave of the coronavirus will reach Ukraine in October: just before the elections. That is, at this time, they can increase the number of tests in order to disrupt the electoral process by introducing a quarantine, or vice versa - they specifically control the number of tests in order to conduct the elections calmly, and only then send Ukrainians to isolation.
