Third phase of quarantine relaxations planned for June 1, ministry says

The third phase of relaxing quarantine restrictions is
being planned for June 1, Deputy Health Minister Viktor Liashko told a May 26
press briefing. This includes full renewal of intracity rail and bus transport,
fitness clubs and pools, beaches, nursery schools, day care centers and
educational institutions of no more than 10 to one room. Indoor cafes and
restaurants will be allowed to reopen as of June 10, he said, as well as the
full service of hotels and hostels. The start of renewed air flights is
scheduled to begin on June 15. 

Seven of Ukraine’s 24 regions still don’t qualify for
implementing the second relaxation phase (launched
this weekend), including Lviv, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia, Volyn, as well
as Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk. That’s largely because local
health officials aren’t performing enough tests, Liashko said, though many of
them also have high infection rates.

An estimated 339 new coronavirus infections were
reported in Ukraine on May 25, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told a press
briefing that day. Twenty-one died on the same day and 341 recoveries were
confirmed. Of the 339 new cases, 71 were medical workers (or 21%). Infections
in the Chernivtsi region, among those worst affected, dropped to 18 cases.

Medical workers account for about 20%, or 4,112 total
cases of coronavirus infections in Ukraine, Stepnaov said. “This happened because
our doctors weren’t prepared for such a challenge at the epidemic’s start. We
didn’t have any means of individual protection, nor respirators, nor masks.
Also routes of transporting the infected weren’t planned,” he said.

Zenon Zawada: Ukraine’s coronavirus epidemic is past its peak and is stable.