Characteristics of The Development of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ukraine and Peculiarities of Epidemiologic Surveillance

Abstract

In December 2019, the world faced a new challenge — an outbreak of the disease caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. On March 11, 2020, WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to overcome it, previously tested strategies and measures of prevention and control were implemented, as well as the latest digital approaches, new political, diplomatic and socio-economic solutions were also applied, which, together with classical approaches, made it possible to finally overcome the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective — to investigate the development of the pandemic of the acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Ukraine and the organization of epidemiologic surveillance for COVID-19 in the country. Materials and methods. An observational population study was conducted. Epidemiological, medicalstatistical and bibliosemantic methods were used. Results and discussion. The weekly morbidity rate varied from 8.28 to 371.39, mortality — from 0.26 to 11.19, lethality — from 1.29 to 5.93 %. The rate of increase/decrease of confirmed cases ranged from —60.92 to 101.21 %, deaths — from —53.66 to 131.25 %. In the age structure of those infected with COVID-19, the largest share is people aged 50—59 years old (18.3 %), among the dead — people > 70 years old (55.64 %). The highest mortality rate in the age group of  70 years old is 9.78 %. The morbidity rate by region ranged from 1.93 to 753.08, the mortality rate from 0.06 to 25.3. The Electronic Integrated Surveillance System for Infectious Diseases was launched in May 2020 to monitor COVID-19, and data exchange with the Electronic Health Care System was subsequently implemented. Conclusions. The development and implementation of effective strategies to combat new infectious diseases, including preparedness and response plans, allow you to prepare for future epidemics and pandemics, an important role in this is played by data analysis, in particular the systematic collection, processing and interpretation of data, in order to assess the current situation and forecast and determine the effectiveness measures taken.