Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says violations of the quarantine rules on Palm Sunday and Easter are behind a recent surge in new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
"Over the past day, 578 people contracted the coronavirus, including 44 children and 123 healthcare workers. This is a new anti-record since the beginning of the epidemic in the country. We believe this was the result of, inter alia, quarantine violations during Palm Sunday and on Easter," he said during an online briefing on Thursday, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
As UNIAN reported earlier, according to the Public Health Center, there were 7,170 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine as of 09:00 a.m. Kyiv time on April 23. Of them, 187 were lethal cases, 504 patients have recovered. Some 578 new cases were recorded in the past day.
Almost 130,000 people converged on churches across Ukraine on Sunday, April 19, to celebrate Easter. In 19 instances, the police recorded a violation of quarantine restrictions.
