Zelensky opposes extending quarantine for more than a month

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine should not extend quarantine restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 past September.

After five months of quarantine, Ukrainians are tired and people need to learn to live and work safely without restrictions, he said during a conference call on July 16.

Zelensky also said that the government needs to adopt new quarantine rules that do not halt the economic growth.

However, the number of cases in Ukraine is still high — on average, 62 people per 100,000 members of the population, said Maksym Stepanov, the Ukrainian Minister of Health, in an interview with the RBK-Ukraine news site published on July 17.

That is why Ukraine will extend the COVID-19 quarantine until at least September, instead of July 31, the previous end date for the restrictions, Stepanov said.

To lift restrictions and avoid spikes of new infections, the Ministry of Health wants to divide the country into four zones — “green”, “yellow”, “orange” and “red.” Depending on the number of COVID-19 cases in each zone, the authorities will decide what restrictions they can lift or impose, said Maksym Stepanov, the Ukrainian Minister of Health.

Another way to avoid an outbreak is to test more.

During the briefing on July 17, Stepanov said that by September Ukraine will double the number of daily polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests from today’s 13,000-14,000 to at least 26,000 tests a day.