Ukraine's COVID-19 case count passed 700,000 as daily records fell
A look back at the final days of November 2020, when Ukraine set successive single-day infection records and its football team lost a Nations League match on a technicality.
How quickly was COVID-19 spreading in Ukraine as November 2020 drew to a close? On 30 November 2020, the country was a few days past a run of daily records that had pushed its total beyond 700,000 confirmed cases.
Three records in three days
On 26 November, Ukraine reported 15,331 new cases in a single day, a new record, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 677,189. The next day, 27 November, the figure rose again to 16,218, lifting the nationwide total to 693,407.
On 28 November, a further record of 16,294 new cases was reported over the previous 24 hours. That took Ukraine past 700,000 total cases. Each of the three days set a higher daily mark than the one before.
A technical defeat in football
Away from the pandemic, sport also made news in the days before 30 November 2020. On 25 November, the UEFA appeals committee awarded a technical defeat to the Ukrainian national team in its 2020–2021 Nations League match against Switzerland, which had been due to take place on 17 November. As a result, Ukraine was to play in League B in the following season.
Taken together, these reports described the state of play on the eve of December 2020: infection figures still climbing to new highs, and a national football side relegated by a committee ruling rather than by a result on the pitch.
