Ukraine won’t extend weekend lockdown into December, Stepanov says

The Health Ministry won’t recommend extending the
weekend lockdown into December because it has observed the public not upholding
the rules, minister Maksym Stepanov told the Ukraine 24 television channel on
Nov. 30. The final results of the weekend lockdown will be available next week,
he said. “But I want to clearly say that we remember how the first weekends
went when, putting it lightly, the weekend quarantine was not upheld. But we
see a tendency towards reducing the growth dynamics all the same. We didn’t
achieve the effect that we counted on from the start. Ukrainians didn’t uphold
the quarantine to the fullest extent that we promoted it,” he said. Instead, a
full lockdown is being considered for Dec. 24 to Jan. 15, the Interfax-Ukraine
news agency reported, citing its anonymous sources.

Of the UAH 123 bln assigned for medical programs in
the 2021 budget, only UAH 14.5 bln is earmarked for treating COVID-19, which is
insufficient, the National Health Service of Ukraine reported on Nov. 30.
“Taking into account the dynamics of illnesses and growth in the burden
on  the system, we will have to reduce expenses by ten times for treating
COVID-19 patients already in the second quarter. And we will have to withdraw
from bonuses for doctors in their work with such patients,” the service said.
Moreover, the UAH 123 bln budget isn’t enough to improve the financing of
primary medical care, as well as vaccinations.

New infections of the COVID-19 disease caused by the
coronavirus reached 12,498 on Nov. 30, the health minister reported on his
Facebook page this morning. That’s compared to 9,946 on Nov. 29 and 12,978 on
Nov. 28. An estimated 221 people died on Nov. 30, compared to 114 on Nov. 29
and 120 on Nov. 28. Ukraine ranks 29th in Europe in the COVID-19 death rate,
according to Stepanov, which attributed to “the merit of medical workers
exclusively.” At the same time, Ukraine ranks fourth in Europe in terms of the
COVID-19 infection rate, according to the worldometers.info web site.

The two patients who died in the Lviv region on Nov.
27 from their artificial ventilators failing – as the result of an electricity
outage – were infected with COVID-19 and pneumonia, confirmed on Nov. 29 Maksym
Kozytskiy, the head of the Lviv regional administration. One backup power
generator was in the maternity ward, while the other was in storage.

Zenon Zawada: It’s hard
not to see the politics in not extending the weekend lockdown into December,
when some positive effect from the measure is apparent. Stepanov has admitted
as much, acknowledging that a significant segment of the public has ignored
lockdown recommendations. This raises the chances of a full, nationwide
lockdown for the holiday season between Dec. 24 and Jan. 15, which we believe
is under serious consideration by top state officials. Anyone wanting to do
business in Ukraine should do so before then.

The striking disparity between Ukraine’s high
infection rate, yet low COVID-19 casualty rate, will be a fascinating subject for
study for epidemiologists. Stepanov is correct in attributing some of the
success to the talents of Ukraine medical workers, who have to work in
otherwise harsh conditions, including electricity outages that have had fatal
consequences. However, other unique characteristics of the virus on Ukraine’s
territory will be under consideration, as well as the peculiarities of the
collective immunity of the public.