KIEV, December 16. /TASS/. Ukraine has documented 10,622 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, which is 26.2% higher than the day before, when 8,416 cases were recorded, Ukrainian Health Minister Maxim Stepanov informed on Wednesday.

"As of December 16, 2020, Ukraine has documented 10,622 new cases of COVID-19. Namely, 501 children and 579 medical workers got sick," he wrote on Facebook. Stepanov added that in the past 24 hours, 3,242 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms, 264 died and 12,549 recovered. Ukraine held 40,470 PCR tests for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Since the start of the pandemic, Ukraine recorded 919,704 COVID-19 cases, including 535,417 recoveries and 15,744 fatalities.

Ukraine documented its first case of COVID-19 on March 3. On March 17, it introduced quarantine restrictions. A state of emergency is active in the country until February 28, 2021. The Ukrainian government ruled to introduce a strict quarantine in the country from January 8 to January 24, 2021.