Cabinet to consider reopening food markets this week

Ukraine’s cabinet will consider at its weekly meeting
on Apr. 29 allowing about 280 of the nation’s food markets to reopen, PM
Shmyhal announced on Apr. 27 after a meeting with the president, who had urged
the matter, according to the cabinet press service. Reopening food markets is
possible owing to “clear work criteria and monitoring algorithms” developed by
the health and economy ministers, Shmyhal said. Violations of sanitary norms
will be severely punished, including the closure of markets for a certain
period, he said.

The mandatory wearing of masks and temperature
screenings are among the conditions for reopening food markets that were
published by Ukraine’s Health Ministry on Apr. 27. Other conditions include the
availability of antiseptic hand cleansers at market entrances, each buyer occupying
a space of no less than 10 square meters, sellers maintaining a distance of
three meters between their stalls, protective screens being installed at
stalls, the disinfection of surfaces every three hours and of the market daily,
and a prohibition on illicit, petty trade on the market’s territory.

The government has moved towards reopening markets
after several protests erupted in various regions this weekend. About 200
farmers blocked vehicular traffic on Apr. 26 on a bridge outside the city of
Kherson to protest the closure of food markets, having nowhere to sell their
produce. A similar number protestors, this time market vendors, gathered at the
Chernivtsi Regional Administration Building on Apr. 27 to demand the reopening
of food markets since their produce is spoiling. At the same time of the
protests, prominent politicians have joined the call for reopening markets,
most notably President Zelensky and Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Ukraine’s
seventh-largest city Lviv.

Coronavirus infections rose by 401 cases, or 4.5%,
from the prior day, to a total of 9,410 as of noon, Apr. 28, according to the
Center for Public Health of the Health Ministry of Ukraine. An estimated 239
people have died from the COVID-19 disease, an increase of 19 cases from the prior
day. Recovered patients rose by 128 cases to 992 in total.

Zenon Zawada: We were
expecting for the Ukrainian public to grow impatient and start protesting in
May, but the patience of those most affected by the virus wasn’t able to endure
even that long. The first nine days of May are among the most important holiday
seasons on the Ukrainian calendar, so these farmers and vendors want to be able
to sell their produce then. It looks as though they will be able to by this weekend.
And if they get the green light, then other business sectors will soon follow
with their demands, particularly non-food retailers. They are targeted to
resume activity on May 12, at the official end of the current quarantine. But
they may decide not to pass up the May holidays as well.