The Ukrainian government will prolong the country’s so-called “adaptive quarantine” measures until July 31, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on June 17.
The decision to extend the restrictions comes on the heels of an increase in new COVID-19 in Ukraine as the country reopens more of its economy and relaunches domestic and international air travel.
On the morning of June 17, the health ministry announced that it had identified a record-breaking 758 new cases of COVID-19 and 31 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours. According to Shmyhal, 4,853 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past week.
“We understand that people are tired of quarantine restrictions, but the coronavirus threat didn’t disappear,” the prime minister said on June 17.
Currently, indoor dining remains banned at restaurants in numerous Ukrainian regions, movie theaters across the country are shuttered and passengers are required to wear masks in public transportation.
The Cabinet of Ministers will also impose a new approach to the adaptive quarantine introduced in the second stage of easing the country’s hard lockdown.
The second stage began on May 22 and was due to expire on June 22. It was termed “adaptive” because it gave the regions the power to single-handedly impose or ease quarantine restrictions based upon criteria issued by the health ministry.
According to Shmygal, regions will also now be assessed on four criteria – the level bed occupancy in hospitals tasked with battling COVID-19, the number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antibody tests (IFA) conducted, the coefficient of newly discovered cases and the increase of newly discovered cases per 100,000 people.
The occupancy of beds must be less than 50 percent, the number of PCR and IFA tests must be higher than 24 per 100,000 people, while the number of new COVID-19 cases must be below 11 percent of the total number of tests and no more than 8 new cases per 100,000 members of the population.
If a region doesn’t meet one of the four benchmarks, new restrictions may be imposed, including the closure of public transport, educational facilities, gyms and restaurants.
Exiting quarantine
On March 17, Ukraine initially imposed a strict quarantine that featured a ban on public transport and a full lockdown on business activity. Only pharmacies, grocery stores and other essential businesses were permitted to remain open.
On May 12, Ukraine began the process of easing restrictions by allowing more businesses to reopen and permitting the country’s citizens to again visit parks and other outdoor public spaces.
On May 22, some regions were allowed to enter stage two of lifting quarantine, which would permit even more businesses and enterprises to reopen. To enter the second stage, over the past seven days an oblast should have less than 12 new cases per 100,000 people, the occupancy of hospital beds should be less than 50% of capacity and the number of COVID-19 tests conducted should be more than 12 per 100,000 people.
However, some regions appeared to bend their numbers to meet the health ministry’s requirements.
Read More: Ukraine loosens quarantine in some regions, Kyiv barely skirts by
Public ground transportation began running at full capacity in Kyiv on May 23, just hours after Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that the city wasn’t ready to relaunch transport.
An hour later, Stepanov changed his mind, announcing that the city now met the government’s criteria.
Moreover, during the course of May 23, the number of oblasts not allowed to loosen quarantine measures dropped from twelve to nine, then to seven and finally to six.
On June 12, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 10 Ukrainian regions, including Kyiv, don’t meet the requirements to be allowed to stay in stage two.
Despite that, Ukraine opened its borders on June 15, allowing airlines to resume international flights from Boryspil International Airport near Kyiv after nearly three months of closure.
