Kyiv to require COVID certificates for in-person visits

The Kyiv municipal administration is preparing for the
tightening of restrictions if the city moves to the Orange or Red COVID level,
the mayor’s office reported on Oct. 5. Changes would include requiring visitors
to municipal offices to present either a recent PCR test result or certificate
confirming the bearer’s COVID vaccination, according to the release on
kyivcity.gov.ua.

Currently, eight oblasts across Ukraine are at level
Orange, and Lviv mayor Sadoviy stated on Oct. 4. that the city was likely to
move to Red at its current rate of registered infections.

The news comes as the first conviction in Ukraine for
forging vaccination certificates was handed down. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs posted on Facebook that in the last week, 12 criminal proceedings had
been initiated regarding the forging of documents.

James Hydzik: For those planning on delivering documents to the Kyiv and Lviv
municipalities, the rise in COVID cases will require that those in line produce
documentation regarding COVID, but the prevalence of fake certificates means
that it’s not a place to lower one’s guard, or mask. The contours of this wave
are not so different that the current formula from the government for handling
it will fail – but with over 12,000 new cases registered on Oct. 6 alone and
rising, the sheer numbers of this wave could still stretch the medical system
to the breaking point.