Ukraine is tightening border controls and requiring visitors to test negative for coronavirus, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said, after the country registered its highest daily death rate from Covid-19.

The new regime was approved by the government on Monday evening and had entered into force, he told a televised briefing.

The country of 41 million people has been hit by a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in recent weeks that Prime Minister Denys Shmygal has described as a third wave of the pandemic, according to Reuters.

“The situation is getting worse,” Stepanov said, adding the number of new cases had risen significantly and the number of cases in the last seven days was 26,000 higher than a week earlier.