In Kharkiv region, the situation with the incidence of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease is critical, from 60 people to 90 people are hospitalized daily, Head of Kharkiv Regional State Administration Oleksiy Kucher has said.

"We are now not in the 'red,' but already in the 'black' zone [...] Every day from 60 people to 90 people are hospitalized in the region. To accommodate these patients (and there are those who are in an extremely serious condition) we need to discharge the same number of patients. This is just confirmation that the situation is critical," Kucher said at a briefing on Friday.

According to him, all the beds for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 are occupied, with the exception of the beds for children and in the maternity hospital.

He said that in the near future it is planned to additionally allocate 320 beds for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and purchase oxygen concentrators. The head of the region also did not rule out that while maintaining the existing dynamics of morbidity, additional beds can be deployed not only on the territory of medical facilities.

An option is being considered, if necessary, the deployment of beds on the territory of even non-medical facilities. As we said, these can be stadiums, palaces, other premises," Kucher said.

In addition, the head of the administration said that there is a problem of a shortage of medical workers.

"At the same time, even if we provide 100% of beds in such a progression, even if we provide an oxygen point to each bed, [...] we do not have enough doctors," Kucher said.

The head of the administration once again reminded of the need to comply with lockdown restrictions, including mask regime and social distance, and also urged people not to visit concerts and other public events.