PODCAST
EXCLUSIVE
Ukraine’s coronavirus third wave: On the frontline of the pandemic in Ukraine and Kyiv’s third lockdown
Elina Kent: Welcome to the Kyiv Post Podcast, where you can tune in to stories that give you a deeper understanding of Ukraine.
I’m your host Elina Kent. I’m a multimedia producer and lifestyle journalist here at the Kyiv Post. This podcast episode is all about coronavirus. The third wave of infection has hit western Ukraine with the British variant of the virus spreading quickly.
This has led a sharp increase in cases, with record breaking daily death rates for several consecutive days this past week.
We are joined by staff writer Anna Myroniuk who travelled to western Ukraine to a hospital on the frontline of this third wave and Deputy Chief Editor Olga Rudenko to discuss Kyiv’s third lockdown that is currently in place through April 9.
Anna was joined by a Kyiv Post photographer and videographer in Ukraine’s western city of Kolomyia to the local Kolomyia hospital. The hospital is in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, more than 500 kilometers west of Kyiv. It sits at the heart of the region that is hit especially hard with COVID‑19.
Wearing protective hazmat suits, goggles, and all precautions, the Kyiv Post team witnessed how the third wave of the virus is causing hospitals to overflow with patients. And what’s happening in Ivano-Frankivsk has already started to become a reality for the rest of the country.
Anna Myroniuk: The hospital we were visiting–Kolomiya district hospital–it was at the time with a capacity of 175 beds, 170 were busy with patients.
For us it was important to travel to the epicenter of the pandemic of the third wave as it was evolving, that’s why we went there.
EK: As of March 18, four oblasts in western Ukraine, as well as the cities of Kyiv and Lviv, are classified as “red” quarantine zones by the government. The regions introduced lockdowns due to the rising number of infections and, most importantly, a shortage of hospital beds.
The Ukrainian government has called this the country’s third wave, and scientists predict it to be the deadliest yet.
What was the atmosphere like when you arrived?
AM: The atmosphere at the hospital was quite grim. As we arrived there in the morning on Tuesday, one patient had passed away and his body was still lying on the hospital bed covered in a black body bag. And only a thin curtain was separating this patient who just died with another patient who was alive and breathing through an oxygen mask being helped by a medical worker. And seeing this, standing in this ward you are witnessing how thin this line is between life and death, and this was heartbreaking.
Medical staff were comparing the situation there at the hospital to the frontline of the Donbas in the early stage of the war back in 2014 and 2015. And they were actually saying to us that the war is there now, we are fighting on the frontline. Being there for a few hours, I totally agree with them. You can see they are running around trying to help everyone.
EK: Similar to their experience on the frontline of the War in Donbas, the medical staff of the Kolomiya hospital work together with volunteers who help support the overwhelmed staff.
AM: And there was a man, a veteran soldier, an ambulance worker who was there to help his mother and father-in-law. And unfortunately his father in-law died two days before we spoke to him.
EK: People are also volunteering to have an opportunity to spend time with their loved ones during their darkest hours, even knowing that they were going to pass away. And these volunteers not only support their sick relatives but support several hospital wards at the same time.
Medical workers all over the world have compared their fight against the virus to being on the front lines for over a year now.
AM: As the doctors said, rephrasing them, “In the Donbas the enemy is Russia and we know it. But here with coronavirus, the enemy is everywhere and you never know when and where it will hit. and that is the most dangerous bit. because you cannot predict where it will come from”
EK: There is some good news. Vaccines have started to arrive and are being administered to medical workers.
AM: Just a few days before we arrived the vaccine arrived to Kolomiya, there was a medical brigade working and they were giving shots to medical workers. and we witnessed 3 of them receive their first jabs.
EK: However the majority of western hospitals are at more than 80% capacity and do not have enough medical staff and equipment to help every coronavirus case.
AM: Which is a lot. The situation is like that there. What is more concerning that it looks like what is happening now in western Ukraine is going to happen everywhere else in Ukraine really soon.
EK: It’s clear that the third wave of coronavirus is not just hitting western Ukraine, it has spread throughout the country as well, and the city of Kyiv.
In order to prepare for the third wave, Kyiv quickly introduced it’s third 3 week lockdown, almost 1 year exactly after the first lockdown in March 2020. We are joined by Olga Rudenko who has more on the subject.
Olga Rudenko: Hi Elina thank you for having me.
EK: So Kyiv introduced a three-week lockdown starting Saturday, March 20 running through April 9th. What’s allowed and what isn’t during this lockdown?
OR: So yes Kyiv introduced a new lockdown and it will last until April 9 at least. Mass gatherings are banned, restaurants only do takeout and delivery, movie theatres and museums and nightclubs are closed. Grocery stores and pharmacies are open. And public transport still operates.
There is a bit of an issue with public transport though. So far it is operating but it may be shut down soon.
The thing is Kyiv is now under 2 lockdowns simultaneously. Starting on March 20th the city authorities imposed a lockdown. That’s one. But also three days later the government marked Kyiv as a “red zone” city. Meaning that the red zone rules apply to it now. and they are mostly the same with the local lockdown but there is one difference. The government rule is no public transport in red zones. But Kyiv didn’t want to stop public transport, so the city negotiated with the government and now the compromise is that the transport is operating but at a very limited capacity. And that already proved to be a problem because public transport companies say that they can’t work under those rules because they are losing money, and the mayor is upset because passengers don’t abide by the rules so at this point it’s very much possible that the transport will be stopped in the coming days in Kyiv.
EK: Kyiv has now entered its third lockdown since the start of the pandemic. This one started shortly after the one year anniversary of the first lockdown in March 2020. What can we say is different this time round?
OR: Of course there is quite a lot of criticism regarding how the lockdown was introduced. Even though this lockdown wasn’t exactly unexpected given that the number of new cases was rising. It was announced just two days in advance. That was pretty hard on businesses that are affected such as restaurants and non essential shops and of course anyone who does events.
Now Ukraine can’t really afford to support those businesses the way other richer countries do. The taxation doesn’t stop, there are almost no compensations for individuals or business. It’s up to business owners to negotiate discounts with their landlords and from what we know many of them do that.
For example the owner of one of Kyiv’s biggest shopping malls announced recently for the time of the lockdown in Kyiv the shops in his mall will stop paying rent and only pay a small maintenance cost. But there is still a lot of frustration that the government doesn’t take any centralized action to help small businesses get through this lockdown.
Another reason why this lockdown is more frustrating than the previous ones, is that people feel like the government isn’t doing so well with the vaccination campaign.
EK: Will this lockdown be enough to curb the spike in coronavirus cases we are seeing throughout the country?
OR: Vaccinations started one month ago in Ukraine and so far only 137,000 shots were administered. Germany now does more vaccinations a day than Ukraine was able to do in the first month. Part of the problem with vaccination in Ukraine was logistics and lack of good planning, and part is that a lot of people just turn down the vaccine. They do it because they don’t trust it, they think that this particular vaccine is of low quality, and so on.
And unfortunately many doctors turn it down too. and it doesn’t help that vaccination became a very politicized issue in Ukraine and a lot of members of the opposition are against it just to win political points.
So it is very frustrating to see that because when the government imposes a lockdown it asks its people to sort of sacrifice some of its freedoms and comfort to contribute to the fight against the virus and of course when people make that sacrifice but at the same time and see the government isn’t doing their part so well, that just leaves everyone very upset.
That’s what’s different this time. When we look back at the first lockdown that started in March almost exactly one year ago, people felt very differently about it. Even though it was a much stricter lockdown and most public transport stopped for two months. There wasn’t any much negativity about it. On the contrary everyone praised the government for introducing the lockdown so swiftly when Ukraine had only a handful of cases.
Now the question many people are asking is “Remember when lockdowns were supposed to be a temporary measure that was supposed to let governments prepare especially in terms of medical infrastructure?” And now a year later they are not temporary anymore, they are becoming a new norm. And the only way out of it is mass vaccination and that is one area that Ukraine really really needs to pick up the pace.
EK: The Kyiv Post posts coronavirus updates daily which you can find on our website and social media. That was this week’s episode of the Kyiv Post Podcast. Please stay safe, stay home, and subscribe to the Kyiv Post.
