The Power Within: The Kyiv Independent’s first-ever magazine. Be among the first to get it.

pre-order now
Skip to content
Edit post

New FLiRT Covid-19 strain detected in Ukrainian hospitals

by Elsa Court and The Kyiv Independent news desk August 5, 2024 4:36 PM 2 min read
A woman wearing a face mask, amid concerns of the COVID-19 coronavirus, walks past a placard reading protective measures during the coronavirus outbreak, in Kyiv on March 24, 2020. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Three cases of the new FLiRT strain of coronavirus were detected in Ukraine in July, Ukraine's Health Ministry reported on Aug. 5.

The FLiRT strain of Covid-19 refers to a set of subvariants with similar mutations, all of which are derived from the Omicron variant. FLiRT was first coined as a name for these variants in March 2024.

Two cases were detected in Kyiv and one case was registered in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, the Health Ministry said. The patients were two women and a man, and all three were aged over 60.

"Available research shows that current vaccines, including boosters, remain effective in protecting against severe forms of Covid-19, although they may not completely prevent infection with the new strain," the Health Ministry said.

The FLiRT strain has specific mutations that affect those with weakened immunity more quickly, as the "virus binds better to cells and avoids the immune response," the Health Ministry said.

Over 5.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases have been recorded in Ukraine since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, leading to over 112,000 deaths, according to Health Ministry data. Ukraine officially lifted Covid-19 restrictions in July 2023.

Ukraine scrambles to reboot reconstruction tender for children’s hospital hit by Russian missile
Ukraine’s government rushed on Aug. 2 to extinguish public uproar over reconstruction efforts at Okhmatdyt, the country’s main children’s hospital based in Kyiv, which was heavily damaged early last month by a Russian missile strike. Health Minister Viktor Liashko announced that a new tender to cho…

News Feed

6:04 PM

Chornobyl isn’t safe anymore... again.

Chornobyl disaster occurred in the early hours of April 26, 1986, in Soviet Ukraine. Nearly 39 years after the worst nuclear disaster in history, Russia’s brazen attack on the $2 billion New Safe Confinement (the sarcophagus enclosing the destroyed reactor) in February 2025 poses a new potential radioactive danger as engineers race to repair the damage. The Kyiv Independent’s Kollen Post dives into why the restoration is not as simple as it may seem.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.