COVID-19 recoveries outnumber new infections for first time in Ukraine

For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic
began in Ukraine, the number of recovered cases from the COVID-19 disease
exceeded the number of newly infected on May 13, Health Minister Maksym
Stepanov told a press briefing the morning of May 14. Coronavirus infections
rose by 422 cases, or 2.6%, from the prior day to a total of 16,847, he said,
citing statistics from the ministry’s Center for Public Health. Recovered
patients rose 427 to a total of 4,143 cases. An estimated 456 people have died
from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, an increase of 17 cases
from the prior day. An estimated 70 of the 422 newly infected (16.6%) were
medical workers.

The second phase of quarantine relaxations will begin
on May 22 and will allow for the work of public sporting events (without
audiences), hotels and standardized college admissions testing, President
Zelensky said in a May 13 video announcement. “I know that everyone doesn’t
know now how the summer will be. How to plan vacations, when planes and trains
will be allowed. When movie theatres, beaches and the metro will work again.
The answer is simple: this all depends on all of us. Every next step of
relaxation is possible only when we achieve certain indicators. In particular,
a moderate amount of new infection cases and a non-critical occupancy of
hospital beds,” he said, calling upon the public to be especially vigilant in
the next days which are “key for launching the next phase of quarantine
relaxation.”

The timing and conditions for opening nurseries will
be the same as launching intercity and suburban public transport, Prime
Minister Shmyhal told parliament on May 13 in response to an MP’s question.
“Unfortunately, we need to wait it out now. At least for several more weeks,
possibly a month, and get positive results in which we reduce the number of
infections and grow in the number of recovered. Children get infected without
showing symptoms. Nursery attendants also have their right to have protection,
health and not getting sick,” he said. That day, Ukraine’s cabinet approved
amendments allowing groups of up to eight people to walk in public and up to
four customers to sit together at outdoor cafes and restaurants.

Zenon Zawada: These latest statistics confirm that Ukraine has reached its peak of
the coronavirus pandemic, or at least this wave of it. The public is on track
to recover gradually a significant portion of its freedoms by July, but
possibly earlier. Meanwhile, the cabinet is responding to pressure from local
politicians – who are politically posturing ahead of the October local
elections – by introducing small relaxation measures every few days, thereby
carefully reducing public discontent. Overall, the government has been handling
a difficult situation rather solidly, more or less.