Ukraine reported a record daily high of 19,893 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Friday.

He also said a record high number of coronavirus-related deaths – 433 – were registered in the past day compared with the previous record of 421 on April 1. It was the third day in a row that deaths had hit record highs.

Stepanov gave no reason for the jump in cases and deaths. Late on Thursday he said Ukraine had confirmed some cases of the novel coronavirus variant that was first discovered in South Africa.

Stepanov said 5,040 people were hospitalised over the past day, almost the same number as on Thursday.

Several biggest Ukrainian towns, including capital Kyiv, have already imposed a strict lockdown.

Ukraine has reported a total of 1,711,630 cases with 33,679 deaths as of April 2.