Ukraine COVID-19 lockdown concludes with success, Stepanov says

Ukraine’s strict winter lockdown to reduce COVID-19
infections concludes on Jan. 25 having succeeded in stabilizing the
epidemiological situation and resetting the medical system, Health Minister
Maksym Stepanov announced on his Facebook page on Jan. 24. The number of
hospitalized patients has declined to about 18,900 currently from about 29,000
in early December, he said.

“In particular, I thank the entrepreneurs who chose
the path of honestly fulfilling anti-epidemic recommendations and quarantine
requirements, thanks to which they saved quite a number of people from
infection,” Stepanov wrote of the lockdown, which began on Jan. 8. He told a
Jan. 22 press briefing, “We achieved such a certain, serious stabilization in
these matters. The main thing is we were able to preempt this wave in the early
stages of COVID’s spread, which was potentially supposed to start after the New
Year’s holidays.”

The country is returning to the basic, nationwide
quarantine restrictions that were in place prior to the lockdown and possibly
the adaptive quarantine approach prior to that, Stepanov said in a television
interview on Jan. 24. “When we chose a date, we also chose dates with the least
activity in the economy in addition to our infection forecasts.” That way, “we
would be able to get through to April and May without harsh restrictions being
imposed,” he said.

New infections of the COVID-19 disease caused by the
coronavirus reached 2,516 on Jan. 24, according to Stepanov. That’s compared to
3,915 on Jan. 23 and 4,928 on Jan. 22. An estimated 63 people died from the
disease on Jan. 24, compared to 83 on Jan. 23 and 116 on Jan. 22. An estimated
5,783 patients recovered on Jan. 24, compared to 5,407 on Jan. 23 and 13,138 on
Jan. 22.

Zenon Zawada: It’s hard
to forecast COVID-19 trends in Ukraine at this point, but it’s safe to say that
it will take quite a surge in infections for the government to impose another
lockdown. We agree with Stepanov’s assessment that the COVID-19 situation in
Ukraine has been brought under control. So we expect that business and
investment conditions will be relatively free to develop in the next three
months.