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The ongoing pandemic disaster of coronavirus erupted with the first confirmed cases in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) novel coronavirus, the disease referred to as coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the outbreak and determined it a global pandemic. The current pandemic has infected nearly 300 million people and killed over 3 million. The current COVID-19 pandemic is smashing every public health barrier, guardrail, and safety measure in underdeveloped and the most developed countries alike, with peaks and troughs across time. Greatly impacted are those regions experiencing conflict and war. Morbidity and mortality increase logarithmically for those communities at risk and that lack the ability to promote basic preventative measures. States around the globe struggle to unify responses, make gains on preparedness levels, identify and symptomatically treat positive cases, and labs across the globe frantically rollout various vaccines and effective surveillance and therapeutic mechanisms. The incidence and prevalence of COVID-19 may continue to increase globally as no unified disaster response is manifested and disinformation spreads. During this failure in response, virus variants are erupting at a dizzying pace. Ungoverned spaces where nonstate actors predominate and active war zones may become the next epicenter for COVID-19 fatality rates. As the incidence rates continue to rise, hospitals in North America and Europe exceed surge capacity, and immunity post infection struggles to be adequately described. The global threat in previously high-quality, robust infrastructure health-care systems in the most developed economies are failing the challenge posed by COVID-19; how will less-developed economies and those health-care infrastructures that are destroyed by war and conflict fare until adequate vaccine penetrance in these communities or adequate treatment are established? Ukraine and other states in the Black Sea Region are under threat and are exposed to armed Russian aggression against territorial sovereignty daily. Ukraine, where Russia has been waging war since 2014, faces this specific dual threat: disaster response to violence and a deadly infectious disease. To best serve biosurveillance, aid in pandemic disaster response, and bolster health security in Europe, across the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) and Black Sea regions, increased NATO integration, across Ukraine's disaster response structures within the Ministries of Health, Defense, and Interior must be reinforced and expanded to mitigate the COVID-19 disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to determine the inhalation toxicity of the electrochemically generated sodium hypochlorite solution after its single administration to laboratory animals in the form of a highly dispersed aerosol. The study has been conducted according to the OECD Test Guideline №403 'Acute Inhalation Toxicity.' Laboratory animals were exposed to inhalation of an aerosol containing 1.7 ± 0.13 mg/m3 of active chlorine. The hematological and biochemical parameters of the blood of experimental animals have been determined, as well as specific parameters: the activity of cathepsins B and L, catalase, and α1-antitrypsin. Histological study of the lungs of animals has been carried out. During inhalation and 14 days after it, no death of the animals was observed; the behavior, appearance, and weight gain did not differ from the control group. There were no significant deviations in hematological parameters, except the decrease in the level of platelets. The biochemical study showed slight changes in the activity of alkaline phosphatase and aspartate aminotransferase on the 1st day after inhalation; these parameters returned to normal within 14 days of observation. Specific biochemical parameters did not show the development of oxidative stress. No specific histological pathologies of lung tissue have been found. Thus, the studied electrochemically generated sodium hypochlorite solution under single inhalation exposure in aerosol form practically does not cause a toxic effect. The data obtained allow classifying such solution to the 4th (or even 5th – after additional studies) class of toxicity in accordance with Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method has been developed for the synthesis of granular polymeric materials with immobilized N-chloro-sulfonamide groups. Commercially available resin polymers widely applied for the preparation of ion exchangers have been used as polymer carriers. The elaborated technological conditions make it possible to modify these resins with a high conversion degree, without deteriorating the strength characteristics, and with the possibility of regulating the concentration of active chlorine over a wide range (up to 11 % w/w). The structure of the synthesized polymers was confirmed by IR spectroscopy data. To determine the concentration of functional groups, a special method of iodometric titration has been developed. The processes of emission of active chlorine from synthesized polymers into aqueous solutions have been studied. It has been shown that this process significantly depends on the composition of the solution: no release of active chlorine into distilled water is observed, and when using tap water, its concentration is reached 5-8 mg/dm³ and remains up to 30 days when the granules are in water. The processes of activation of active chlorine emission by compounds of amine nature have been studied, the corresponding kinetic curves of the dependence between change in the concentration of active chlorine in solution and the used activator are presented. It has been found that the nature of the used activator strongly affects, among other things, the stability of the obtained chlorine-active solutions. Taurine and sulfamic acid are found to be the optimal activators for obtaining stable solutions of active chlorine of high concentration. The composition of the N-chloro-taurin solution obtained in this way has been additionally analyzed by UV spectroscopy. Thus, the synthesized polymers make it possible to quickly in situ obtain high-purity solutions of active chlorine without the use of special electrochemical equipment. The polymers themselves are compact, stable, and can be repeatedly regenerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]