JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The World Health Organization expects the buildup of COVID-19 in Ukraine to peak in October, likely bringing hospitals closer to their capacity threshold, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
“We are now seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases in Ukraine. We expect transmission to peak in early October and hospitals to reach their capacity threshold,” Ghebreyesus said at the WHO Regional Committee for Europe convention in Tel Aviv.
“Oxygen shortages are expected as the main resources are in the occupied regions of the country,” he said.
Oxygen is essential for patients suffering from diseases such as COVID-19 and those suffering from other serious illnesses resulting from pregnancy headaches, childbirth, sepsis, injuries and trauma.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February had a massive impact on health care, and the WHO confirmed more than 500 attacks on health infrastructure in that country, resulting in a hundred deaths. Ghebreyesus also said the war could only increase the spread of polio.
“We are also deeply involved in the prospect of foreign polio because of gaps in immunization policy and large war-related population movements,” he said.
Ukraine has a low vaccination policy for COVID and polio, an infectious disease that mainly affects children and can cause paralysis and death in rare cases. Two cases of polio were reported in Ukraine in 2021.
This year, Israel, Britain and the United States reported polio transmission in major cities, raising considerations about the extent of the infection.
(Reporting through Maayan Lubell; Additional reporting via Jennifer Rigthrough in London)
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