Health minister predicts new surge in COVID-19 cases in 3-4 weeks

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov predicts a new surge in coronavirus cases in three or four weeks after Orthodox Easter holidays.

He shared his forecast in a comment on TV Channel Ukraina 24.

"Frankly speaking, we expect [an increase in cases] after [Orthodox] Easter in any case," he said.

"We expect an increase in the number of patients in three to four weeks. I cannot say now how high it will go up. We will have to monitor how all our holidays are proceeding. Because there is not only Easter, there are some other holidays," he  added.

Ukraine observes Orthodox Easter on May 2 this year. What is more, there are two more bank holidays early in May 2021 – Labor Day is marked on May 1 and Victory Day over Nazism in World War II is marked on May 9.

According to Stepanov, how serious a new outbreak will be depends on the mobility of people, so it will be possible to give an accurate forecast only after the holidays.

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COVID-19 in Ukraine: Latest developments

• Ukraine said 6,506 new active COVID-19 cases were confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours as of April 19, 2021.
• The total number of confirmed cases grew to 1,953,016.
• The total death toll has hit 40,000, including 214 fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours.