Ukraine hits new record for daily coronavirus deaths
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine on Tuesday hit a new record for daily coronavirus deaths amid an outbreak of infections fueled by public reluctance to get vaccinated.
The Department of Health reported 833 deaths from the coronavirus in the past day, surpassing the previous record of 793 over the weekend and bringing the total of confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in the country to 73,390. The nation of 41 million people also recorded 18,988 new daily infections in the past day.
Although four vaccines are available in Ukraine – Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac – only 18% of the population has been fully vaccinated. It is the second lowest rate in Europe after Armenia.
In an effort to speed up the vaccination, authorities have asked teachers, government employees and other workers to get their full vaccines before November 8 or have their salaries suspended.
On Tuesday, the government also ordered workers in state-controlled businesses, including railways and postal services, as well as social workers to be vaccinated by December 1.
Ukrainian authorities have also started requiring proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results for people boarding planes, trains and long-distance buses.
New government regulations and restrictions have spawned a booming black market for counterfeit vaccine documents. Fake vaccination certificates sell for the equivalent of $ 100 to $ 300, and there have been reports of a fake version of a government digital app with fake certificates already installed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Ukrainian police had set up 1,400 mobile units to track down counterfeit vaccination documents.
___
Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at h ttps: //apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
