Weekend quarantine to help avoid tough lockdown – Zelensky
The quarantine regime on weekends will be imposed in Ukraine for several weeks, it will help to avoid an increase in the number of patients with coronavirus (COVID-19) disease and will give time to expand the medical base, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
"A temporary quarantine regime for the weekend, for about a few weeks, can help us avoid a tough lockdown. Thus, we will avoid a large increase in patients and will have time to prepare the required number of beds," Zelensky said at a conference call with representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and law enforcement agencies to control situations with the spread and prevention of COVID-19 disease.
"An increase in the number of beds, wearing masks and a temporary quarantine of the day off will be efficient. Our scenario for the development of the epidemic situation in the cold season will not be the worst," the head of state said.
In total, it is planned to additionally provide about 100,000 beds.
In addition, at the meeting, the president was informed that the hospitals of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Ukrzaliznytsia started receiving urgent patients without COVID-19 in order to make room for patients with COVID-19 infection in order to make room for patients infected with COVID-19 in medical facilities repurposed for this. This added about 5,000 beds.
According to Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, over the past week, ten more hospitals started to admit patients with COVID-19. The number of beds for such patients was increased by 4,400 beds.
Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said that the purchase of oxygen concentrates and licensing of companies that produce medical oxygen are still underway. Additionally, some 16 such enterprises were licensed.
Zelensky also inquired about the work of the COVID-19 hotline launched by the Health Ministry of Ukraine. Stepanov said that 53% of those who applied had questions about family physicians. They mainly concerned the inability to contact the family physicians, the fact that a person does not have a family physician, the inability to send a mobile team. The head of the Health Ministry said that all appeals are carefully processed.