E.U. may open its border to Ukraine as of July 1, commissioner says

The E.U. will begin to open its border to foreigners starting July 1 and Ukraine may be among the countries whose citizens are allowed entry if criteria are met, said on June 11 Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, as reported by the eurointegration.com.ua news site. These criteria, which must be similar to E.U. levels, are coronavirus infections per 100,000 citizens, infection tendencies in the country, and the government’s measures to combat the virus, including testing, monitoring, reporting and treatment. The country requesting entry for its citizens must open its borders for E.U. citizens.

 

Quarantine/lockdown restrictions will be reimposed if 10 or more regions demonstrate hyperbolic growth in infections, Prime Minister Shymhal said on June 11, as reported by the pravda.com.ua news site.  “Nobody is ensured from that and we see repeated waves of infections in a series of countries. Of course, we will monitor it to prevent such hyperbolic growth,” he said, adding that fluctuations occur every day.

 

New coronavirus infections in Ukraine reached 683 cases on June 11, the Center for Public Health at the Health Ministry reported this morning. An estimated 16 people died of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, while 426 recoveries were reported. The single-day record of the prior day was the result of clearing backups in testing, Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko said in a June 11 radio interview. “We are advancing with tests that were collected in recent days and transferred them to other laboratories to conduct tests and eliminate queues,” he said.

 

Zenon Zawada: The statistics don’t indicate that a renewed quarantine/lockdown is in order. But these figures could negatively affect the E.U.’s decision to reopen its border to Ukrainians.