- Title: 207 UA COVID-19 Donetsk region
- Date: 4th April 2020
- Description:Up to 40 tests per day available in Donetsk - ORF report from Eastern Ukraine Officially 3 people have been infected in the region of the pro-Russian rebels Donetsk, but the number of infections could be higher. There are about 10.000 people under self-isolation. Three laboratories manage around 30-40 tests a day. As there are many infections in Ukraine and Russia, and the lack of test in the region, there could be a lot of unknown infection cases. Olga Dolgoschapko, health minister in Donetsk said that the broken train line and the destruction of the airport, could now be an advantage for the region, as it is isolated, but this could only slow down the spread of the virus and not prevent it. The border crossing to Ukraine, Russia and Lugansk are closed. The streets are rather empty in Donetsk, there is a curfew for people over 65years, until April 17th. The only exemption is to go for groceries or for a local walk with the dog. The hospitals in the region try to prepare for COVID-cases, but there is a lack of medical personal and also equipment in the region. So students from the university from Donetsk or nearly finished doctors should fill the gap. Medical equipment was delivered by the red cross for the first time in three weeks. And also the ceasefire is not working there is still fighting going on despite COVID. Shotlist - WS street scenes Donetsk - Hospital preparations - Room with beds prepared for COVID patients - SOUNDBITE (Russian) Olga Dolgoschapko, health minister for Donetsk: "At the moment we are lacking 6,000 doctors, 7500 people among the middle medical staff, and of course, in case of an epidemic, we will miss doctors altogether. We already have doctors working in the infection departments who do not have such a specialization. These include surgeons. Depending on how the situation develops, we will need additional staff; therefore, we will also employ students from our medical university in Donetsk and all the doctors who are already interns. They will all be deployed in the hospitals if necessary, up to and including the care of the patients". - Q: How many tests were conducted until now? - SOUNDBITE (Russian) Olga Dolgoschapko, health minister for Donetsk: "Doctors conduct the tests in three laboratories located in one center. Between 30 and a maximum of 40 tests can be carried out on average per day, because they are complicated and also depend on the capacity of the equipment; we cannot carry out several hundred tests per day. However, there are other laboratories, such as those for AIDS or tuberculosis, and private laboratories, but there is no need for them yet because our capacity is sufficient. So far, we have carried out more than 200 tests on people with serious symptoms, three of them have been positive". - Q: How credible is the issue of so few registered cases? - SOUNDBITE (Russian) Olga Dolgoschapko, health minister for Donetsk: "We see so many infected people in Russia and Ukraine, but why so few in our country? They don't believe us that there are so many everywhere, but so few here. It sounds paradoxical, but the total destruction of the airport in 2014 and 2015 and the disruption of the railway connections led to isolation, which now saves us, paradoxical as it sounds. Now we have large flows of traffic over Russia and Ukraine, because our citizens can only use aircraft there. That is why there are many infected people there. That does not mean, of course, that the infection cannot spread to us. - Call center for questions on Covid - Red cross delivery - SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Cyril Jaurena, representative of the Red Cross in Donetsk: We are also in discussions with the structures here to bring support in the places of detention. Because in a closed place, like a prison, if someone is infected could be very bad. - Red cross truck - Situation for people outside Donetsk near the front line
- Collection: ORF
- Genre:News
- Producer:ORF
- Transmission Date:04/04/2020
- Decade: 2020s