Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko says that the health care system in Ukraine is now coping with the increase in COVID-19 patients, he called the possible introduction of a hard lockdown "an exclusively reserve situation."

"Today we register 5,000 - 5,700 cases in Ukraine - there is no collapse. The healthcare system is coping. We say that we will cope with 10,000 ... Certain hospitals will be loaded, hospitalize patients, repurpose new beds and there will be quite large number of patients. Therefore, in order to prevent this, we ask everyone to comply with all anti-epidemiological norms and rules," Liashko said in an interview with the Internet edition of Radio Liberty on Saturday.

He added that everything possible is being done at the national level to prevent the collapse of the health care system and not to stop the country's economy.

"We understand that the introduction of a hard lockdown is already an exclusively such reserve situation when nothing else can be done," he added.