Certain regions strengthen lockdown measures, others prepare to relax

The regional administration of the Volyn region,
situated on the Polish border, announced on its Facebook page on June 22 that
it decided to intensify quarantine/lockdown restrictions in response to rising
local cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. Starting that
day, prohibitions were renewed on the activity of indoor restaurants and cafes,
shopping malls, fitness centers, cultural institutions, interregional
transport, religious events of more than 10, and nurseries. Meanwhile, the
surge in COVID-19 cases to 200 infections on June 21 in the Lviv region – also
on the Polish border – is owing to the working off of queues of those being
tested, said Chief Medical Officer Viktor Liashko, as reported on the
president.gov.ua website.

The Health Ministry for the first time published on
June 22 its quarantine/lockdown criteria oriented on its new methodology, based
upon which the Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions can relax their restrictions. Now
there are eight regions that can’t relax restrictions, including Zakarpattia
and Chernivtsi, which have an infection growth rate of higher than 10% and
hospital bed occupancy higher than 50%. The other criteria are testing
performed on no more than 24 people per 100,000 residents in the last week and
a coefficient of infections of more than 11%. Meanwhile, Kyiv police
intensified patrols of suburban rail transport on June 22 to ensure the public
is upholding epidemiological requirements to combat the virus’ spread,
including wearing masks and social distancing.

Cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the
coronavirus flared to 833 on June 22, according to statistics of the National
Security and Defense Council. An estimated 23 patients died, while 314
recovered.

Zenon Zawada: The
coronavirus statistics remain alarming (above 800 cases in one day), though not
so much in Kyiv as in Lviv. The government’s adaptive quarantine approach is
well-suited to address such discrepancies between regions, preventing the need
for a return to a national quarantine/lockdown. At the same time, it creates
certain confusion when certain regions are strengthening restrictions at the
same time when others are relaxing. And the same region can change its approach
to the quarantine with a week’s time. So while the adaptive approach is
effective, Health Minister Stepanov had a point when referring to anarchy in upholding requirements.