Anna Skorokhod, a member of parliament, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. She posted about it on her Telegram channel on March 28. She became the third Ukrainian lawmaker to confirm she had the virus.
“To stop the rumors I want to inform you that today I was told that my test for COVID-19 is positive,” Skorohod said. “My main symptom is this — I can’t smell a thing,” the lawmaker said.
She also asked everybody who came into contact with her recently to self-isolate for 14 days. Overall, as of March 28, Ukraine has confirmed 311 cases of the COVID-19 and eight deaths.
Skorokhod was expelled from the 248-member Servant of the People parliamentary faction in November 2019 after she faced accusations of offering bribes to other lawmakers. Head of the faction David Arakhamia said that Skorokhod was “lobbying interests of certain oligarchic groups.” Since then she is an independent lawmaker in the Verkhovna Rada.
Skorokhod is one of at least three lawmakers known to be infected with the coronavirus.
Read also: As COVID-19 strikes lawmakers, parliament prepares to work remotely to pass crucial bill
Ruslan Horbenko, a member of the Servant of the People faction, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 23 and was hospitalized with pneumonia.
“I was tested twice, the result of one of the tests was negative, another one positive,” Horbenko wrote on Facebook.
On March 13, a member of the parliamentary group Dovira (Trust), Serhii Shakhov, recorded a video informing that he was infected, after denying it just hours before. Shakhov is in the hospital too.
Shakhov’s colleague in “Dovira,” Serhiy Velmozhny, is now in the hospital with his son having symptoms “similar to those of Covid-19,” he wrote on Facebook on March 21.
The real number of infected lawmakers may be higher.
Ukrainian media reported that several other lawmakers tested positive, as well, citing other members of parliament or anonymous sources, but so far only three lawmakers publically confirmed they were infected.
CORONAVIRUS IN UKRAINE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- As of March 28: 8 people have died from COVID-19 in Ukraine; 3 Ukrainians died in Italy. 5 people have recovered.
- 311 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine as of March 28. The first case was identified on March 3.
- Ukraine has extended its quarantine measures until April 24.
- Infographic of quarantine measures in place until April 24.
- The measures shuttered most everything but hospitals, supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, gas stations, and other critical enterprises.
- How the Ukrainian government has been responding: TIMELINE
- Misinformation on coronavirus is going viral in Ukraine.
- Doctor’s advice: How to stay safe.
- Foreign Ministry: What you need to know about traveling to and from Ukraine now
- Why the Kyiv Post isn’t making its coverage free in the times of COVID-19.
- Coronavirus stops the Kyiv Post’s print edition for now.
- Where to buy masks.
Effects on the economy:
- COVID-19 is already inflicting harm on Ukraine’s economy.
- Invisible Threat Lurks Undetected: Top stories from March 27, 2020 PDF edition.
- The former minister of economy says half a million Ukrainians may lose their jobs in the COVID-19 crisis.
