KYIV, Ukraine — The Ministry of Health in Europe, the country with the lowest rate of coronavirus vaccination in Ukraine, reported on Tuesday that 538 persons died of Covid 19 in the country over the previous 24 hours. It was the highest daily death toll since pandemic started.
The country s health officials are struggling with two illegal problems: widespread vaccine skepticism, and illegal schemes selling fake Covid credentials that people use to get around restrictions intended to slow the virus spreading like a new rule taking effect on Thursday that requires a vaccination certificate or a positive test to board a train.
The fraud problem is significant enough that Volodymyr Zelensky discussed it at a meeting with government ministers and law enforcement officials this week.
The proliferation of fake vaccination certificates in a country that has struggled for years with corruption in many spheres of public life threatens to undermine Ukraine's fight against the virus. A deputy minister of health, Maria Karchevych, said earlier this month that police officials suspect at least 15 Ukrainian hospitals of having issued fake certificates in exchange for payments.