There is no sharp increase in COVID-19 incidence in the Republic — Health Minister

The situation with the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 in the Donetsk People’s Republic remains stable, DPR Minister of Health Olga Dolgoshapko reports.

“The situation with the coronavirus infection in the Donetsk People’s Republic is stable, there is no sharp increase in its incidence. To date, the Republic is fully provided with medications for the treatment of COVID-19, as well as the necessary medical equipment, oxygen and medical products that we receive from the Russian Federation,” Olga Dolgoshapko told.

According to the minister, the percentage of those who fall ill of the total number of patients who were examined is about 15%.

“Of these patients, about 60% have mild or asymptomatic cases, the number of people with cases of average severity is 25% and about 15% people have severe cases of the coronavirus infection,” she noted.

Olga Dolgoshapko also added that the DPR has got enough coronavirus test systems.

“At the moment there are enough tests in the Republic. Recently we have received another large lot of 10 thousand tests. So I can safely say that we have got a very large stock of test systems,” the minister said.

Olga Dolgoshapko stressed that thanks to the fact that the DPR Head introduced a range of restrictive measures in a timely manner, proliferation of the disease and a large number of severe cases have been avoided.

“We managed to prevent scenarios that we could see, for example, in Italy, Spain, the US, where, among other things, a very high mortality rate was reported,” she said.

Returning to the availability of medical equipment, the health minister said that the Republic is provided with a sufficient number of artificial lung ventilators.

“17 hospitals handle the coronavirus in the Republic today, where about 400 people are being treated. We have been provided with enough lung ventilators. Out of 230 ventilators allocated for the treatment of patients with the new coronavirus infection, 48 people need ALV, most often it is a mask, and only 2 people are having ALV through ET tube now,” Olga Dolgoshapko stressed.