What quarantine restrictions are still in force in Ukraine

The Ukrainian government extended the nationwide COVID-19 quarantine until July 31 and specified which restrictions are still in place in a decree published on June 17.

The government will also intensify the enforcement of the restrictions, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on June 19.

The decision comes after a week of a sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases as Ukraine reopened more of its economy and relaunched domestic and international land and air travel. In the past week, Ukraine’s Health Ministry reported a record number of 5,319 new cases.

“A very large number of people stopped following the quarantine rules and decided that the coronavirus has disappeared and there is no more chance of getting sick,” Shmyhal said at the government’s meeting. “Almost a thousand of (daily new) infected patients is an extremely alarming signal for us.”

On the morning of June 20, the Health Ministry announced that it had identified 841 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. It’s a decrease from the 921 new cases reported the previous day, but still the second-highest number of daily new cases ever recorded. 

According to the June 19 decree, the government forbids the following until the end of the quarantine:

• being in public places and public transport without wearing a face mask (while streets aren’t considered public places, transport stops and underground passes are);
• being outside without an ID;
• leaving places of isolation (when infected but not hospitalized) without permission;
• visiting educational institutions in groups of more than 10, except for exams;
• holding mass events with more than one person per 5 m² of the building’s or territory’s area;
• running facilities for children’s health and recreation (children’s camps);
• transporting more passengers than there are seats in the vehicle; 
• visiting social care units, institutions providing social services, except those providing emergency social services;
• visiting reception centers for refugees, stateless persons and foreigners who are staying in Ukraine illegally;
• carrying out planned hospitalizations, except for treating pregnant women, newborns, cancer patients, providing palliative care and other emergency services.

These add to the existing restrictions that depend on the region.

In Kyiv, where the level of infections is still high, these venues remain closed:

• indoor restaurants
• swimming pools
• cinemas
• theaters
• museums
• entertainment areas in shopping malls, including for children

The government also recommended businesses to set the start of the working hours at 9 a.m., 10 a.m or later, and let the employees have flexible hours, when possible. The government did not explain the reasoning for this recommendation, but it likely aims to reduce the number of people using public transportation at peak hours.

At the same time, on June 19, Kyiv authorities allowed swimming in the city’s rivers and lakes. The Health Ministry said that face masks aren’t necessary on the beach, as long as there is a 1.5-meter distance between the beach-goers.

Regional restrictions 

The Cabinet of Ministers also imposed a new approach to its “adaptive quarantine” plan that allowed each region to ease restrictions if they meet requirements in three criteria. Now, each region should also impose additional restrictions if the region doesn’t meet the requirements in four criteria.

Deputy Health Minister Viktor Lyashko said that such additional restrictions can be imposed starting June 22 in some regions. As of June 20, Kyiv and nine oblasts do not meet the requirements even in the three criteria used earlier: Kharkiv, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk and other oblasts.

The four new criteria are: 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.

Tougher enforcement

At the government meeting on June 19, Shmyhal also instructed the National Police, State Service for Food Safety and Health Ministry to intensify the enforcement of the quarantine restrictions

“We will strengthen control over compliance with the anti-epidemic measures,” Shmyhal said. “All relevant meetings were held today, and we will act tougher to keep Ukrainians safe.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was present at one of these meetings and instructed the law enforcement to step up control over quarantine compliance, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff. He also said that he quarantine can be intensified.

“We talked about everyone coming together to explain to the people that in some cases this will hit their pocket,” Tymoshenko said on the air of Ukraine 24 TV channel. “We don’t want to intensify the quarantine because it’s a blow both to the economy and the people, but such a measure is not ruled out.”