COVID-19 cases set daily record as citizens disregard preventive measures
19 June 2020
The latest daily record was set on June 18 of 921
cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus in Ukraine, Health
Minister Maksym Stepanov reported at his daily press briefing this morning. An
estimated 19 deaths were reported and 586 recoveries were confirmed. Stepanov
urged citizens to adhere to Health Ministry recommendations of mask-wearing,
social-distancing and use of disinfectants to combat the virus’s spread.
“Sometimes there’s total anarchy from the viewpoint of upholding rules that we
recommend. One needs to look outside, at what’s happening in restaurants, clubs,
bars, the beaches in Odesa. So of course, it’s going to be hard to restrain the
coronavirus in this way,” he told a television talk show the night of June 18.
Zenon Zawada: So far,
authorities haven’t gone any further than keeping quarantines/lockdowns in
place in the 10 most severely affected regions (led by Lviv on the Polish
border and Chernivtsi on the Romanian border), as well as the city of Kyiv. No
reintroduction of severe restrictions has begun, which we believe to be
politically motivated. However, should enough hospitals reach their full
capacity of COVID-19 patients this weekend, we expect authorities will have no
choice but to reimpose severe restrictions.
