Ukrainians evacuated from the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China have finally been put in quarantine in Poltava Oblast after they spent an entire evening on a bus as locals tried to prevent the government from using facilities in their town to isolate the evacuees.
The 72 evacuees — as well as everyone who accompanied them from the Chinese city of Wuhan to Poltava Oblast, including doctors, customs officers, aircraft crew and even journalists — have finally settled into a sanatorium in the town of Novi Sanzhary.
The evacuees will have to spend two weeks there to ensure they are not carrying the deadly virus that has already killed over 2,000 people and infected nearly 76,000. Not a single evacuee has tested positive for coronavirus.
Locals, who fear the evacuees will bring the virus to their town, threw stones, burned tires and blocked the road for their bus. It was transporting the evacuees from Kharkiv, the eastern Ukrainian city where their plane landed on Feb. 20 at 11:50 a.m.
As a result of the protests, the three-hour trip took nine hours.
The police have arrested 29 people involved in the unrest. Ten police officers sustained injuries during confrontations with protesters.
After nine hours on the road — much of it spent waiting for police to remove barricades set up by local residents — the convoy reached the sanatorium at around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, according to BBC Ukraine.
Among the evacuees, there are 45 Ukrainians and 27 foreigners.
One of the Ukrainians, Oleksandra Volkova, shared videos of their arrival to Ukraine and the sanatorium on Instagram.
Volkova posted a picture of a broken bus window with a golf ball-sized hole caused by protesters throwing stones at the vehicle. Her other pictures showed the rooms where the evacuees are now staying. She also filmed old, shabby furniture, a door without a lock and a shower that, Volkova said, gave her an electric shock.
In her most recent stories, Volkova said that evacuees are not allowed to give interviews to journalists. She also thanked the National Guard, doctors and the aircraft crew for their “great work.”
Another Ukrainian evacuee, Nikita Turev, however, spoke with journalists, telling them that the sanatorium is “safe and quiet.” Double rooms are equipped with refrigerators, TV sets, and air conditioners. Hot water is also available. Evacuees were handed a booklet with instructions and rules for their stay in the sanatorium.
Ukraine’s Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska volunteered to join the evacuees too. She announced on Facebook that she’d too spend two weeks at the sanatorium in a move that she said might help “reassure both locals in Novi Sanzhary and the rest of the country.”
However, Skaletska hasn’t met face-to-face with any evacuee and was placed in a separate house.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Anastasiya Zinchenko, who decided to stay in China after she was told she would not be allowed to take her dog with her during the evacuation, received a phone call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 21.
Zelensky said that he hadn’t heard about her situation and promised to help soon. Later that day, police delivered food and face masks to Zinchenko’s home in Wuhan.
All the evacuees are, so far, considered healthy. They were first tested for the virus in Wuhan and again in Kyiv, Deputy Health Minister Dmytro Koval reportedly said in a press briefing on Feb. 20.
A passenger plane, chartered by the government from the low-cost carrier SkyUp, brought the evacuees back to Ukraine from Wuhan on Feb. 20.
The SkyUp plane is currently undergoing disinfection, and specialists have already replaced its air conditioning filters. The plane will be ready to fly again in a few days after the procedure is completed.
So far, there have been over 75,748 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infections and 2,121 people have died in China. Eight fatalities have been recorded outside China.
