Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to include new restrictions for the orange zone announced by the Health Ministry.
In the morning of Sept. 11, Ukraine reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases detected in one day since the beginning of the pandemic – 3,144 people.
Out of all of Ukraine’s regions, Kyiv has the most active cases in the country: 11,114 people as of today. The Ukrainian capital broke its own daily record: 404 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
Due to the surging infections, Kyiv has been marked at the orange level of COVID-19 threat on an updated map of outbreak zones by the Health Ministry.
The new quarantine rules came into force in Ukraine on Aug. 3: communities, rather than entire regions, are now divided into green, yellow, orange, and red levels of severity of the spread of COVID-19. Authorities of administrative districts, cities, and towns decide whether to tighten or relax quarantine restrictions depending on the level. The levels are based on three indicators that are reviewed every five days, such as hospital bed occupancy, number of PCR tests, and the number of cases per 100,000 people of the population.
At the beginning of August, Kyiv was in the green zone. However, by mid-August, the infection rate grew, as the COVID-19 threat level was increased to yellow.
Starting Sept. 14, Kyiv will officially enter the orange zone. What will change in the life of Kyivans?
The answer: Not much.
Schools, businesses, and public transport will be open. Masks are required inside public establishments and transport but not outdoors.
By the Cabinet of Ministers’ order on COVID-19 threat levels, the city authorities have to tighten the anti-epidemic restrictions depending on the color of the zone. De facto, few cities actually do it, even those that are within the riskiest red zone.
Speaking at a briefing on Sept. 11, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced the following measures as the city enters the orange zone.
- Mass events (sports, cultural, social, religious) may have no more than 220 people and one person per 10 square meters.
- Hostels and other places that offer tourist accommodation services are banned, except for hotels.
- Group classes at vocational schools and higher education institutions are limited to 20 people.
- Planned hospitalizations are canceled, with the exception for pregnant women, newborn babies, cancer patients, patients in palliative care, and emergencies when a person’s life is at risk.
- Gyms and fitness centers have to close unless they can ensure there will be no more than 1 person per 10 square meters.
- New admissions to children’s camps are banned.
- Half of all seats in public transport have to be empty.
The Health Ministry published an updated list of restrictions on Sept. 11. In addition to the above-mentioned measures, cities in the orange zone have to ban the work of nightclubs and restaurants at night. Moreover, 50% of seats at restaurants must be empty, and museums, libraries, and shopping centers must have no more than one person per 10 square meters.
Currently, most cafes and restaurants—crowded during the day and in the evenings—close before midnight anyway. As for nightclubs, the Cabinet of Ministers already banned them twice this summer: in July, and most recently, on Aug. 26. Nevertheless, nightclubs continued to host dance parties under new conditions, such as moving outdoors, requiring masks, or changing working hours.
As summer is over, children go to schools rather than camps. And many hostels have lost their clientele as a result of an entry ban for foreign citizens until Sept. 28, which mostly affected tourists.
During a briefing on Sept. 11, Mayor Klitschko called on the National Police to track the movements of people with COVID-19 who are supposed to self-isolate at home but still go out to public places.
However, the enforcement of rules such as mask-wearing and social distancing remains weak, fines for violating the quarantine are too high, and the existing procedure of imposing fines by courts is time-consuming and inefficient.
As of Sept. 11, Kyiv hospitals have treated 968 patients with confirmed COVID-19, of which 176 are severe. Over 400 patients with pneumonia are also hospitalized.
