Ukraine’s COVID infection numbers drop but Kyiv still in red zone

Ukraine’s Health Ministry updated its COVID-related
zonings across the country on April 25. The City of Kyiv and 10 oblasts remain
in the red zone, with the most severe restrictions. The oblasts are Chernihiv,
Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zaporizhia, and
Zhytomyr. Chernivtsi and Odesa oblasts have dropped to the orange zone.

The country’s State Sanitary Doctor, Viktor Lyashko,
posted on Facebook on April 23 that some oblasts and the city of Kyiv are
improving to the point that they could also come out of the red zone, in the
next week.

At the same time, no change in the restrictions is
planned for the Easter and May holidays. Prime Minister Denis Shmygal posted on
Facebook on April 24 that the current protocols are working, as evidenced by
the stabilized situation in Odesa. Recall, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov had
stated on April 18 that a “special regime” would come into force over the
holidays.

The Health Ministry reported on Facebook on April 26
that it had recorded 5,062 new cases of coronavirus and 195 deaths associated
with the disease within the last 24 hours.

James Hydzik: The adaptive quarantine does work to prevent waves of coronavirus from
surging completely out of control. The death rate remains high because, in
part, of the tendency of Ukrainians to attempt to remain out of hospitals until
the very last moment. However, as the wave continues to recede, better care
should be available to those who do go to the hospital, so death rates should
continue to drop. However, this latest wave also showed how society (not only
in Ukraine) is chafing under continued restrictions. Unfortunately, though the
algorithm for dealing with the surges has been worked out, the government has
still not come up with a way to foster vaccination. It may be the EU, which has
announced that it will allow vaccinated tourists into the bloc, that actually
drives vaccination in Ukraine.