Yulia Tymoshenko tests positive for coronavirus, ex-PM in ‘serious condition’ as Ukraine struggles with big rise in infections

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is struggling with a fever after testing positive for coronavirus. The country has seen an upswing in new Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.

The news was confirmed by Tymoshenko’s spokesperson, Marina Soroka. “Yes, unfortunately, it is true. The test showed that Yulia has Covid-19. Her condition was identified as serious. Her temperature reached 39 Celsius,” she wrote on social media.

Tymoshenko briefly served as prime minister in 2005 and later held the same office from 2007-2010, as well as running for president three times. She currently leads the opposition Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) party in Ukraine’s parliament.

The news comes as officials are battling to contain a rise in coronavirus infections in the country. A total of 1,987 new cases and 27 deaths were reported on Sunday. They include 306 cases in Ukraine’s capital Kiev on Sunday, where 18 new patients were children.

Mayor Vitali Kitschko said that the city has “never” seen such a big daily increase in Covid-19 patients in a single day. He also noted a surge of people requiring urgent treatment, as 56 patients were hospitalized.  

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Friday that if the tide is not turned soon, it could overwhelm the healthcare system.“We already have a wave of 2000 [new cases] per day. It is very dangerous. We cannot repurpose all hospitals. So the increase of patients will just shut down the healthcare system completely, and the state will be unable to do anything,” he said.

Nearly 105,000 people had been infected in Ukraine since the start of the outbreak, 2,271 have died.

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