New Year quarantine in Ukraine likely if COVID cases keep rising

Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov spoke on
Nov. 25 regarding a nation-wide quarantine lasting through the New Year and Christmas
holidays, Unian reports. The minister, in a televised interview, claimed that
it would be necessary if pandemic levels continued to rise. He stated that
while the economic impact was taken into consideration, “there may be
circumstances when we have to do this anyway to save lives,” Stepanov
said.

Ukraine marked 221 deaths and over 15,000 new cases of
COVID-19 at the Health Ministry press conference on the morning of Nov. 26.
Limited weekend closures of businesses are currently in place.

James Hydzik: Observers had been expecting the introduction of tougher measures
after the elections at the end of October. However, businesses and public
institutions are still trying to minimize the effect on the economic and other
aspects of Ukrainian society for as long as possible. Ukrainian schools begin
their winter breaks on December 21, and parents will be psychologically ready
(or ‘morally prepared’, to use the Kuchma-era term) for that disruption, and
many businesses slow down from end-December through mid-January. The question
remains as to whether Ukrainians are prepared to pay the cost of waiting
another three-four weeks for the measures to begin.