Some issues of forced placing under medical observation or quarantine over suspicions of COVID-19 not settled in law – lawyer
Some issues on forced placing of citizens under medical observation or quarantine over suspicions of having coronavirus COVID-19 are not settled by the law, lawyer of Ilyashev & Partners law firm Alla Tsymanovska has said.
"For example, how at the moment a passenger arrives in Ukraine to determine that an elevated temperature is a sign of the COVID-19 disease, and not SARS for example, or the passenger's reaction to a long flight or other circumstances?" Tsymanovska told Interfax-Ukraine, noting that according to the law, this can only be determined after a medical examination and testing (of biological samples).
"This means that the passenger needs to obey and go to a specialized hospital. Confirming that a passenger really had contact with the infected is possible only if the passenger voluntarily reports this. Otherwise, it is impossible to confirm this fact. Nevertheless, disobedience to border guards and doctors working at checkpoints and the passenger's refusal to undergo a medical examination can be regarded as a violation of sanitary legislation, for which administrative, disciplinary, civil legal and criminal responsibility exists, the lawyer said.
Tsymanovska reminded that special sanitary-quarantine units and border inspection posts function at border checkpoints. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has introduced screening the body temperature of passengers at all checkpoints in the country. Screening is done in a non-contact manner using special infrared thermometers.
"In accordance with Article 28 of the law on ensuring the sanitary and epidemic welfare of the population, in the event of refusal from hospitalization, individuals, who are sick with extremely dangerous infectious diseases, shall be subject to mandatory hospitalization, and persons, who are carriers of pathogens of infectious diseases, and persons, who have been in contact with them, shall be subject to mandatory medical supervision and quarantine according to the established procedure," the lawyer of Ilyashev & Partners said.
Accordingly, passengers arriving from a country in which cases of COVID-19 are registered, in the presence of symptoms of the disease, as well as in case of contact with infected persons, are subject to immediate isolation.