{"id":4488,"date":"2021-01-02T14:56:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T14:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=145537"},"modified":"2021-01-02T14:56:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T14:56:23","slug":"ukraines-health-care-system-economy-struggle-to-cope-with-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/02\/ukraines-health-care-system-economy-struggle-to-cope-with-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine’s Health-Care System, Economy Struggle To Cope with COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
BORYSPIL, Ukraine — Apart from the international airport it hosts, rarely does this suburb 45 kilometers east of Kyiv make the national news. Yet Boryspil was in the headlines on October 28 after Anatoliy Fedorchuk died of complications linked to COVID-19 just three days after being elected to his fourth consecutive mayoral term and less than a month before his 61st birthday.<\/p>\n
“It was a shock to all of us at first\u2026we thought he was in good health,” said Yaroslav Hodunok, who, serving as city council secretary at the time, took up the vacant post until mid-November.<\/p>\n
The mayor-elect’s death was a stark reminder to people in this nation of nearly 44 million that the coronavirus does not discriminate based on status.<\/p>\n
A city of nearly 62,000 people, Boryspil had recorded 2,619 confirmed coronavirus cases<\/a><\/strong> and 34 deaths from COVID-19 as of December 30, according to the Health Ministry’s Center for Public Health (CPH).<\/p>\n Overall, COVID-19 has claimed more than 18,000 lives in Ukraine, according to the government. On December 24, Ukraine surpassed 1 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n Many in Ukraine suspect the real figures could be higher, including Hodunok, who contends that official COVID-19 statistics are a “lie” that don’t reflect the real situation.<\/p>\n