First Lady Olena Zelenska has been hospitalized in Kyiv with COVID-19, just four days after she tested positive for the coronavirus, the President’s Office announced.
Zelenska’s diagnosis is currently bilateral polysegmental pneumonia of moderate severity. She is in stable condition and does not require supplemental oxygen. She does not have shortness of breath, the President’s Office stated.
On June 15, Zelenska’s husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, and their two children tested negative for the coronavirus.
Previously, on June 12, Zelenska announced on her Instagram account that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I feel good, but I am in outpatient treatment, isolated from other family members to not endanger them,” she wrote.
Zelenska said her diagnosis came as a surprise, as she had been following all the quarantine rules of the Ministry of Health, including wearing a mask and gloves and minimizing contacts.
At the time, President Zelensky and their children also tested negative for the virus.
Despite his wife testing positive for the coronavirus, Zelensky has continued to come to the office, “as he cannot delegate his authority and some of his functions can only be fulfilled in the office,” his spokesperson Iuliia Mendel told the Ukrainska Pravda news site.
However, he has limited in-person communication to a small group of people and maintains social distance with them, she added. All conferences, meetings and negotiations are held by phone or remote communication.
