KIEV, July 19. /TASS/. The highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant will become dominant in Ukraine by the end of summer and the authorities are preparing to contain its spread, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Lyashko told the Ukraine 24 TV channel.
"In Ukraine, there is Delta strain and many other strains. Coronavirus has more than 12,000 mutations. In a month or two, the Delta strain will replace other strains," the minister said.
The ministry’s priority now is to inoculate as many people as possible, he stressed. Some $25.7 mln was allocated in subventions for oxygen concentrators. "People, who have undergone an active phase, will be able to be discharged and get a concentrator from their family doctor," Lyashko said.
According to the World Health Organization’s epidemiological bulletin published on July 14, the Delta variant has been confirmed in 111 countries and territories, and since July 6 their number has grown by seven. This variant is now circulating in India, where it was first discovered in October 2020, as well as in Russia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Thailand, Israel, Brazil, and the United States. Meanwhile, the WHO has no data on this strain’s presence in Iceland, Egypt, Montenegro, Cuba and a whole number of other 85 states and territories.
Since the start of the pandemic in Ukraine, more than 2.2 mln COVID-19 cases have been recorded, the Health Ministry said. Isolated cases of the infection with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 have been also confirmed. As many as 1,431,127 people have been fully inoculated since the launch of the vaccination campaign on February 24.