Ukraine quarantine to extend beyond May 22, will include mass transit, PM says

Ukraine’s quarantine will be extended beyond May 22
but mass transit – including intercity transport – could be renewed by July,
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a television program on May 12. “We are at
the peak of infections. We have been quite even in the last seven to eight
days. The daily infection rate isn’t rising. But we still haven’t had a single
day when the number of those who recovered has exceeded or was even with the
number of those who fell ill. That phase is very important. A turning point,”
Shmyhal said. When asked whether mass transit can work by the middle of the
summer, he said he’s “more of an optimist” and wants to hope that “everything
will be a bit quicker.” He added that mass transit will be opened no earlier
than the third phase of the government’s five-phase plan
of emerging from the quarantine.

Airlines that have announced international flights to
and from Ukraine in May and June don’t have the government’s approval,
Infrastructure Ministry spokeswoman Oksana Herasymova said in a May 12
interview with the hromadkse.ua news site. All decisions on renewing travel,
within the country and internationally, have to be made by the Cabinet of
Ministers, she said in response to the fact that Ukraine International Airlines
(UIA) announced the sale of tickets for flights starting on May 23, while Wizz
Air, Ryanair and Lufthansa announced flights in June. (Concorde Capital
confirmed a UIA flight planned for May 20 between Kyiv and New York.)

Such announced flights “ahead of the government’s
approval is premature and deceives passengers. Recommendations on the work of
airports is being prepared. The opening of connections with other countries
depends on the decisions of respective governments regarding the opening of
borders for the citizens of foreign countries, as well as the epidemiological
situation,” Herasymova said. The EU has prohibited the reopening of borders to
foreigners before June 15.

Coronavirus infections rose by 402 cases, or 2.5%,
from the prior day to a total of 16,425 as of noon, May 13, according to the
Center for Public Health of the Health Ministry of Ukraine. An estimated 94, or
a quarter of those infected, were medical workers. An estimated 439 people have
died from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, an increase of 14
cases from the prior day. Recovered patients rose 343 to a total of 3,716
cases.

Zenon Zawada: Economic
activity in Ukraine will be significantly dampened for as long as there are
severe restrictions on mass transit since the majority of Ukrainians don’t own
their own vehicles. We expect the government to keep these restrictions in
place for as long as it can, or at least until July.

Having seen SMEs successfully pressure the government
to lift quarantine restrictions (largely by starting to defy them in recent
weeks), the airline industry is following their lead. But that defiance will
have far greater limits in light of the higher severity of rules being enforced
at the international level.