Ukraine virus deaths, hospitalisations hit new record

KIEV: Ukraine on Wednesday registered another record number of coronavirus deaths and hospitalisations, with officials warning the situation is "critical".

The government on Wednesday reported 481 deaths in the previous day and 5,587 people taken to hospital, both the highest figures recorded since the start of the pandemic.

Coronavirus infections and deaths have been rising steadily in Ukraine for months, as the ex-Soviet country's ageing healthcare system struggles to cope with the contagion.

"It is no exaggeration to describe the situation as critical," the mayor of the capital Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, said at a briefing.

"If we do not stop the rapid spread of the disease in the nearest future, the capital's medical system will not hold," Klitschko said, adding that hospitals would run out of beds "very soon".

Kiev tightened coronavirus restrictions on Monday, closing kindergartens and primary schools and introducing travel restrictions.

Since the start of the pandemic the country of 40 million has recorded more than 1.7 million infections and more than 35,000 deaths.

Its vaccination campaign has struggled with a lack of supplies, with only 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine and 215,000 doses of China's CoronaVac jab so far delivered.

The vaccination campaign was launched last month and 320,000 people have so far received a first dose.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday announced a contract for the supply of 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, to be delivered by the end of this year.