Zelensky, Yermak contract COVID-19 disease

Ukrainian President Zelensky has contracted the COVID-19
disease, reported on Nov. 9 the Facebook page of the President’s Office.
Zelensky will continue to fulfill his presidential responsibilities remotely in
self-isolation. “There aren’t any lucky ones in the world, for whom COVID-19
didn’t pose a threat. Despite all the quarantine measures, I also received a
positive result. I have 37.5, but I wish everyone 36.6! At that, I feel well. I
promise to isolate myself and continue to work. The majority overcame COVID-19.
And I will also go through this. Everything will be good!,” Zelensky wrote on
his Facebook page.

The same day, Zelensky endorsed imposing a weekend
lockdown for several weeks. “In this way, we will avoid a large increase of ill
people and will be capable of preparing the necessary number of beds.
“Increasing the number of beds, wearing masks and a temporary quarantine on
weekends will offer a positive effect. Our scenario for the development of the
epidemiological situation in a cold time of year won’t be the worst by far,” he
said.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the President’s Office,
confirmed contracting the COVID-19 disease the same day. Yermak said on his
Facebook page he would go into self-isolation and promised to work “in normal
mode, not slowing tempos.” He added, “This week is the planned videoconference
of the advisers of the leaders of the Normandy Format. This is one of my most
important priorities. So there is no time at all to be sick. If the talks this
week don’t occur, then it’s certainly not my fault.”

Ukrainian hospitals aren’t going to conduct planned
medical operations as of Nov. 9, Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko said
following a meeting with the president that day. Instead, they will be
exclusively treating COVID-19 patients who are urgently ill. “The situation is
extremely tense, not only in Ukraine,” he said, as reported by the
pravda.com.ua news site. The number of hospital beds needs to be urgently
increased to 80,000 from 50,000, 80% of which need to be supplied with oxygen.
He called upon the public to use preventative measures so that “the health
system doesn’t face collapse.”

New cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the
coronavirus swelled to 10,179 on Nov. 9, the Health Ministry reported. That’s
compared to 8,687 on Nov. 8 and 9,397 on Nov. 7. An estimated 191 people died
of the disease on Nov. 9, compared to 115 on Nov. 8 and 138 on Nov. 7. An
estimated 1,252 patients were hospitalized on Nov. 9, compared to 1,100 on Nov.
8 and 1,157 on Nov. 7.

Zenon Zawada: The
infections of Zelensky and Yermak are symbolic of the current swelling of the
coronavirus, which threatens to grow out of control.

These latest measures – national weekend lockdowns and
suspensions of medical operations – offer more evidence that the government
realizes the threat and is capable of serious action, despite the inevitable
losses in popularity. We believe these measures should be able to keep the
virus situation from spinning out of control.