Several Ukrainian cities are under lockdown, but it is not enough, according to the mayor of Kyiv. People travel across regions and make it a national issue.
Kyiv is in lockdown, where even public transportation is shut down due to an increase in Covid-19-cases. It is similar in other Ukrainian cities, while people can still go to restaurants, bars, and other activities in different Ukrainian towns which fewer Covid-cases.
Vitaliy Klitschko, who is the mayor in Kyiv, calls for a nationwide lockdown, which the government has denied so far.
“Crowding up with no face masks, throwing parties, traveling to other cities… Let’s be honest: there is an uncontrolled spread of the virus,” Klitschko said, according to Unian, “We must have patience and stay at home to see our family and friends on Easter.”
“I appeal to the government to urgently consider the issue of introducing a nationwide lockdown. A real lockdown. Movement between Ukraine’s regions must be limited with control over the observance of strict rules,” he said, pointing out that it is difficult to stop the spread in cities like Kyiv when infected people from other regions travel there.
High infection numbers
Klitschko pointed out that Ukraine is vaccinating too few people at the current pace to make any significant difference in the short run. He said that if nothing is done on a national level, “the country could face a disaster” in a short time.
On Saturday, Ukraine confirmed 17,463 new Covid-cases in Ukraine, which is close to the record. 4,709 people were hospitalized, and 398 died. In the last 24 hours, Ukraine conducted 122,181 tests, which means that almost ten percent were positive.
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, NASU, recently expressed hope that Ukraine has seen the top of this wave. They estimate that the level of Covid-cases will stabilize now and remain at the same level in the coming weeks.
“The share of long-standing cases of the daily released data is growing. This means the actual spread may be less compared to official statistics,” NASU wrote in a statement, referring to how the percentage of positive PCR-tests has declined recently.
“Ukraine is likely at the beginning of the flattening of the curve, which is a very unstable period and may last for several weeks (as seen from the autumn wave),” they estimate.
