The coronavirus pandemic has reached a critical juncture in Ukraine, with the country registering a record number of daily cases this week and more than half of designated hospital beds occupied.
Moreover, several top officials have tested positive for COVID-19, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is now isolated in a hospital with mild symptoms of the disease.
To slow the transmission of the coronavirus, the government has imposed a “weekend lockdown,” forcing non-essential businesses to close on Saturdays and Sundays.
With his speeches growing more emotional with every public appearance, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says that the weekend lockdown is the only alternative to a complete lockdown that would shatter the economy. “We have to break this chain (of infections), so we don’t have thousands of people getting sick every day,” Stepanov said, pounding his fists on the table, during a video conference when the government adopted the new measures on Nov. 11.
But Ukrainian businesses are not happy with the weekend lockdown.
Workers of the restaurant industry protested against it at government headquarters just before it was adopted. Many other entrepreneurs have criticized the measures on social media, saying that the weekend lockdown will kill their businesses.
More severe cases
The spread of the coronavirus in Ukraine has reached new daily records, with 11,057 new cases reported on Nov. 12. These numbers have been steadily growing for months, abating only after the weekends, when less testing is done. Also on Nov. 12, Ukraine reported 198 deaths, the second-highest number since the start of the pandemic.
At the same time, the number of recoveries has decreased from a daily average of 6,489 recoveries last week to 5,207 this week.
“The virus has become more aggressive. That is, the number of critically severely ill patients is increasing,” Stepanov said during his Nov. 11 briefing. “This is happening across the country.”
According to Stepanov, hospital beds are filling up at “exponential” rates in Ukraine. As of Nov. 11, 28,514 out of 52,000 designated beds, or 54%, are occupied, he said. The 52,000 designated beds for COVID-19 patients are about one-third of all available hospital beds in the country.
While the number of patients requiring oxygen has been increasing, fewer than 20,000 of these beds are connected to oxygen equipment. The government has ordered regional authorities to set up makeshift hospitals in Kyiv, Kramatorsk, and Odesa. Media have reported that the Palace of Sports, the Expo Center and Feofaniya Hospital are being considered for the future temporary COVID-19 hospitals in Kyiv.
Stepanov also said that hospitals already experience shortages of medical personnel. He said that the ministry is deploying interns and doctors with different specializations to treat COVID-19 patients. He warned that Ukraine could reach a point when doctors will have to decide which patients have higher chances of survival and should be prioritized.
Officials test positive
The surge of new coronavirus cases has coincided with top officials testing positive for COVID-19 this week. President Volodymyr Zelenksy announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 9. A few minutes later, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak announced that he too had the coronavirus.
More officials tested positive the same day: Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and Defense Minister Andriy Taran. Taran later received a negative test on Nov. 12. On Nov. 11, Parliament Speaker Dmytro Razumkov announced that he had tested positive too. So far, all the affected officials seem to be in good condition.
Zelensky said he felt “good” when he tested positive and had only a slight fever of 37.5 degrees Celsius. Yermak also said he felt “normal.” Later, the president’s spokeswoman Iuliia Mendel reported that both officials have only “mild symptoms of the disease” and are “active.” Still, Zelensky and Yermak have been hospitalized to Kyiv’s Feofaniya Clinical Hospital, designated to treat Ukrainian officials.
According to Yermak’s advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, both officials continue to work from the hospital. Zelensky holds video conferences in a specially equipped hospital room. Yermak is in a separate, isolated room, but with no equipment for video conferences. They don’t see each other face-to-face and communicate by phone, according to Podolyak.
“The only restriction is isolation, no one is around,” Podolyak told the Ukrainska Pravda news website on Nov. 11. “That is, none of the aides are near the president or the chief of staff.”
Zelensky first went home after testing positive, but then decided to move to Feofania because there are better conditions for self-isolation and medical care for patients with COVID-19, Mendel said on Facebook. She added that the president continues to work and even had a call with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Nov. 10.
Weekend lockdown
After a week of deliberation, the Ukrainian government on Nov. 11 finally approved a “weekend lockdown,” prompting criticism from businesses that rely on Saturdays and Sundays for their biggest sales. Under the weekend lockdown, non-essential businesses have to stay closed for 48 hours, from 12 a. m. on Saturdays to 12 a. m. on Mondays.
The government said that the weekend lockdown starts this Saturday, Nov. 14, and will last until at least Nov. 30, covering three weekends.
However, sources in the Health Ministry told the Ukrainska Pravda news website that the measure will last until Dec. 31, the current expiration date for the COVID-19 quarantine.
Most non-essential businesses must be closed during the weekends.
These include cafes, restaurants, and bars, which are allowed to function only for take-out orders.
Malls and entertainment centers also must be closed, as must gyms, fitness centers and swimming pools.
The most sweeping ban concerns all cultural institutions, which include music venues, theaters and cinemas.
One exception is institutions that produce audio-visual content, provided they restrict access to recording locations.
Businesses deemed essential are still allowed to work on the weekends.
These are supermarkets, where 60% of the area is reserved for selling groceries, and pharmacies, including veterinary ones. Gas stations are allowed operate as well, but their dining areas must stay closed. Also allowed are institutions that provide financial services, postal services and repairs.
The weekend lockdown will not affect transport.
Air travel and intercity trains will operate as usual.
City transport will continue to work on the weekends too.
The government also imposed a uniform nationwide quarantine, dropping its idea of “adaptive quarantine” that assigned different “quarantine zones” to different localities.
The new nationwide quarantine measures correspond with those that were used for communities with the “orange level” of COVID-19 threat.
Before the government even ruled on imposing the weekend lockdown, around 300 restaurant industry workers protested the measure. The rally, called “I have a right to work,” took place in front of the Cabinet of Ministers building in Kyiv on Nov. 11. More criticism followed on social media from owners and workers of hospitality and entertainment businesses. Most argue that the government discriminated against businesses, while not shutting down public transport, where the virus spreads actively.
Many say that the government also does not provide enough relief to businesses suffering from quarantine measures.
“Cinemas get up to 80% of their income on weekends,” Dmytro Derkach, co-owner of the Planeta Kino cinema chain, said on Facebook. “We’ll work for a week, after which we will have to close all our cinemas and fire 500 employees, leaving these people without jobs and wages.”
At the government meeting on Nov. 11, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that, by halting the presence of people in entertainment venues and dining establishments, the government aims to reduce the flow of people in public transport as well.
He said that the government wants to reduce people’s social contacts during the weekends to stop the spread of the disease. “Because if nothing is done, by Dec. 10 or Dec. 15, the healthcare system will not be able to admit any more patients. There will be no places in hospitals, even in the hallways,” Shmyhal said.
Nationwide quarantine measures
apply across Ukraine every day; to last until Dec. 31
Banned
• nightclubs, other leisure venues
• hostels and other hospitality businesses, except hotels
• planned hospitalizations, except for pregnant women, newborns, cancer and critical patients Allowed
• public events limited to 20 people
• team sporting events without spectators
• cafes, restaurants, bars, but not between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
• cinemas with no more than 50% of seats filled
• museums with no more than one person per 20 square meters
• gyms, fitness centers with no more than one person per 20 square meters
• all transport, but without standing passengers
Weekend lockdown
applies from 12 a.m. on Saturdays to 12 a.m. on Mondays; to last until Nov. 30
Closed
• cafes, restaurants and bars (except for take-out)
• malls and entertainment centers
• cultural institutions (except audio-visual production studios with restricted access to recording locations)
• gyms, fitness centers and swimming pools
• other stores and service businesses, like beauty salons
Open
• supermarkets, where 60% of the area is reserved for selling groceries or medicine
• medical institutions and pharmacies, including veterinary ones
• gas stations, but not dining areas
• businesses providing financial services, postal services and repairs
• all transport, including city, intercity and between regions
