The situation with the coronavirus in Ukraine is close to catastrophic and the nation must prepare for the worst, health minister Maksym Stepanov said on Tuesday. Ukraine registered a record 8,899 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the ministry said, up from the Oct. 30 high of 8,312. The daily tally of coronavirus infections spiked in late September and remained consistently high throughout October, prompting the government to extend lockdown measures until the end of this year.