Poland, Russia and the Ukraine report record rise in daily coronavirus cases and deaths

Poland reported a record 18,820 new coronavirus infections and 236 deaths on Wednesday, the health ministry said, with the country facing hospitals overload while mass street protests against an abortion ruling continue.

The ministry said that as of Wednesday, COVID-19 patients occupied 13,931 hospital beds and were using 1,150 ventilators, compared with 13,291 and 1,078 respectively a day earlier.

Russia on Wednesday recorded 16,202 new coronavirus cases and a record high 346 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 26,935.

With 1,563,976 infections, the country of around 145 million has the world’s fourth largest number of cases, behind the United States, India and Brazil. 

The coronavirus situation in Russia is continuing to deteriorate, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told a meeting on Wednesday of senior government officials and President Vladimir Putin.

Golikova said there was a critical situation in 16 Russian regions, where hospital beds were at more than 90% of capacity.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday it would send army medics to a region in the Urals hit by a surge in COVID-19 cases, after doctors there made a public plea to Putin for help. 

The number of daily coronavirus deaths in Ukraine jumped to 165 from the previous record of 141 fatalities registered on Oct. 21, the national security council said on Wednesday.

The council said 7,474 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 363,075 cases with 6,755 deaths.