The lockdown in Kyiv has been extended at least through April 30, Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on April 14.
“We don’t have a choice,” Klitschko said at a briefing. “Otherwise, the medical system won’t handle the load and there will be even more deaths.”
Public transport, including the metro, will remain unavailable for most Kyivans. Only people who work in critical industries who got a special permit from the Kyiv City Council will be able to use public transport.
Schools and kindergartens will also remain closed.
“Doctors note that if during the first wave of coronavirus more teens ended up in hospitals, there is now a larger number of preschool children hospitalized with COVID-19, with more severe cases and consequences,” the mayor said.
Cafes and restaurants can only do takeout or delivery. Food fairs are prohibited.
Klitschko again asked business owners to let their staff work remotely or provide them with paid leave, if possible.
Other “red zone” restrictions will likely remain in place even though the mayor didn’t explicitly mention them. Shopping malls and other non-critical businesses will have to stay closed.
Ukraine is in the middle of its third and worst COVID-19 wave, with each day bringing 4,500 to 5,000 new hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths.
In the past 24 hours, 12,384 COVID-19 patients have recovered and 467 have died. Over 1.4 million people have recovered from COVID-19 and 38,225 have died since the pandemic hit Ukraine.
There are currently 406,495 active cases in Ukraine; 467 people died on April 13.
The vaccination remains dangerously slow, as only five people received two doses of the vaccine so far.
In total, 403,553 people have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is less that 1 percent of Ukraine’s population.
