Kyiv to monitor medical supply delivery, amid first virus-related demonstration

The central government has organized the distribution
of medical supplies to combat the coronavirus throughout the country and will
monitor their delivery, Ukrainian President Zelensky told a special meeting on
Apr. 2, as reported by the President’s Office. “Very any doctors have addressed
us. They have written letters and produced videos that they aren’t receiving
masks, respirators, medical scrubs, gloves and other supplies that we resent
from Kyiv,” he said, noting that the government will review what hospitals have
received. The meeting reached the conclusion that Ukraine doesn’t have a
problem with food supply. Meanwhile, flights occur daily to China to acquire
masks, which are lacking in Ukraine.

A group of about a dozen activists, who identified themselves
as the “Headquarters for the War with COVID-19” led by pro-Russian blogger
Aleksandr Semchenko, forced their way into the office of the deputy head of the
State Reserves Agency to demand information about allegedly misplaced supplies.
When entering the office, they requested details on the whereabouts of
artificial respirators, absent from hospitals, and 10 mln masks, which are
absent from pharmacies, according to the livestream video posted on You Tube by
Semchenko of his demonstration. Those masks that have surfaced on the market
are being sold at highly inflated prices of at least UAH 15-25 each (while the
agency buys them at UAH 0.69 each), while another part has been sold abroad, he
alleged. The agency issued a press release accusing the group of damaging
property and engaging in a political provocation, while police spokeswoman Yana
Nerush reported the crime of the activists having ignored the demands of
security guards.

Among the three top concerns of Ukrainians regarding the
coronavirus are concern for the health of their loved ones (38%), the rise of
food prices (29%) and difficulty in purchasing protective gear such as masks,
gloves and disinfectant liquids (27%), according to a poll conducted between
Mar. 27 and 30 of 1,500 respondents by the Kyiv International Institute of
Sociology.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine plans to restrict
the amount of time people can spend in streets during the quarantine, newly
appointed Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told a television talk show on Apr.
2. Other planned restrictions are outdoor requirements of wearing protective
gear, as well as not allowing people in public even to be in pairs. “We need to
intensify quarantine measures so that we don’t have the Italian or Spanich scenarios.
No other path exists,” Stepanov said. Meanwhile, the Chernivtsi region, among
the hardest stricken by the virus, will be closed to all entering and exiting
transportation as of Apr. 3, said its regional administration head Serhiy
Osachuk on his Facebook page. An estimated 39 poeple were infected during the
course of Apr. 1, he reported.

As of noon, Apr. 3, 23 people have died in Ukraine
from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. An estimated 942 people
have been infected, an increase of 17%, or 804 cases, from the prior day,
according to the Center for Public Health of the Health Ministry. Three
residents of Kyiv have died from COVID-19 on Apr. 1 and 2, Mayor Vitali
Klitschko said in his daily briefing. Chief Medical Officer of Ukraine Viktor
Liashko acknowledged making a mistake when claiming the prior day that all of
Ukraine’s COVID-19 fatalities were among people over 50 years old. Three
fatalities were among those under 50, he said.

Zenon Zawada: We don’t
rule out that Ukraine’s pro-Russian activists, like Semchenko, are genuinely
concerned about the state’s response to the coronavirus. But given that someone
like Semchenko has a pro-Russian political agenda in his many years of activism
(having opposed the Euromaidan), in all likelihood we are witnessing the
beginning of Russian attempts to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to
stir political tensions in Ukraine and discredit the Zelensky administration,
with which the Kremlin is dissatisfied. This makes sense considering the Russian leadership doesn’t hide that
it is interested in dissolving Ukrainian statehood. Moreover, Russian-backed offensives in Donbas have
continued despite the coronavirus outbreak. 

We believe the cabinet is moving forward with even
more strict quarantine measures because poll numbers indicate the public is willing to tolerate
them in order to contain the coronavirus. We believe such patience will begin
to wear out by mid-May, when any savings will have been exhausted (according to
the same poll). At that point, the peak of infections must have been reached
(for social stability) and quarantine measures will need to be relaxed for
renewed economic activity. Without that, political and social tensions will
inevitably intensify and pose consequences for the government.