Ukraine virus deaths reach all-time high

Ukraine's coronavirus infections and deaths reached all-time highs for a second straight day on Friday, in a growing challenge for the country with one of Europe's lowest shares of vaccinated people.

In Rivne, 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Kyiv, the city hospital is swamped with COVID-19 patients.

Doctors said the situation was worse than the wave of infections earlier in the pandemic that severely strained the medical system.

"The severity of the course of the disease is certainly higher and it's more aggressive than last year. The patients have become younger," said Valentyn Koroliuk, head of the hospital's intensive-care unit.

"Unfortunately, the patients in our department are not vaccinated."

Patient Lilia Serdiuk, 61, said she regretted not heeding calls to get vaccinated.

"I didn't believe it, I didn't even want to watch the news," she told The Associated Press as she lay flat on her back in a narrow bed.

"I wish all people listened to the news and recommendations of doctors."

The hospital is at near capacity and doctors worry the wave of patients will grow.

"We have an oxygen station in the hospital that produces 400 oxygen tanks per day. At times, that is not enough for us for all of our patients," said chief doctor Igor Dundiuk.

Ukrainian health authorities reported 23,785 new confirmed infections and 614 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Authorities in the capital, Kyiv, shut schools for two weeks starting Friday, and similar measures were ordered in other areas with high contagion levels.

Authorities have blamed surging infections on a sluggish pace of vaccination in the nation of 41 million.

Ukrainians can freely choose between Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, but only about 15% of the population is fully vaccinated, Europe's lowest level after Armenia.

Overall, the country has registered over 2.7 million infections and about 63,000 deaths.