Lifting of COVID-19 lockdown would lead to disaster – health minister

The lifting of quarantine restrictions could have catastrophic effects as COVID-19 could fill all hospital beds and hospitals would no longer be able accept coronavirus patients.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said this at a briefing on August 28, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The lifting of quarantine restrictions could cause disaster. If quarantine was completely abolished, then we would not have a room to provide medical care. All our hospitals would be full," Stepanov said.

According to him, 35,000 beds have been prepared in Ukrainian hospitals for patients with coronavirus, which are distributed among different regions in different numbers. As of today, 6,544 beds have been occupied. The number of hospitalizations is growing daily.

Therefore, in order to avoid a situation where there is no place for hospitalization, all quarantine rules must be observed, the minister said.

As of August 28, Ukraine's total cases of COVID-19 reached 114,497, including 2,438 new cases confirmed in the previous day.

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