On April 5, Kyiv entered a new level of quarantine restrictions in order to curb the new wave of coronavirus.
The city has been under its third lockdown since March 20. A week into it, the city authorities decided to intensify the restrictions.
The lockdown will run at least through April 16.
Here’s what changes in Kyiv on April 5 and what to expect.
What’s different?
The stricter quarantine will look more like the first lockdown that Kyiv experienced in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic.
The additional measures include no public transportation for the general public. This includes metro, buses, marshrutkas, and trams.
It will, however, allow special passenger passes exclusively for the transportation of employees of critical infrastructure enterprises. Passes can be requested from the city council.
Employers are encouraged to send employees to work remotely or, if possible, provide vacation days.
All open food fairs and markets were already closed starting April 1.
Law enforcement has been urged to monitor the compliance of quarantine rules by institutions, agencies and citizens.
This stricter quarantine has also been extended to April 16, one additional week from the initial end date of April 9.
What’s closed?
Starting April 5, all schools and kindergartens will be closed in Kyiv.
Restaurants and cafes are closed but are available for takeaway or delivery, which has been the case since March 20.
All open air food markets and fairs have been shut down.
All non-essential businesses are still closed.
This includes cinemas, theaters, museums and concert halls.
Shopping and entertainment centers except for the grocery stores, pharmacies, pet stores and stores selling hygiene products and household chemicals in the shopping malls.
Mass events and gatherings are also still prohibited, this includes sports games, entertainment events, and religious gatherings if the area of the room is not less than 10 square meters.
What’s open?
Pharmacies, grocery stores, stores selling hygiene products and household items, and pet stores will still be open.
Ukrzaliznytsia does not seem to be planning shutting down both long-distance and commuter trains to or from Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast despite the increased quarantine.
Why the stricter lockdown?
Ukraine is currently experiencing its third and worst wave of coronavirus. Most days in the past two weeks brought record numbers of deaths and infections.
According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the situation in the capital is “difficult” and could become “catastrophic”.
It was previously predicted that April could be the worst for Ukraine with at least 500 deaths a day. The first few days got close, with 407 deaths on March 31, 421 deaths on April 1 and 433 deaths on April 2.
Although vaccines are being distributed among medical staff, many doctors and nurses are getting sick with the virus as well. The medical system of Ukraine has been overwhelmed since the start of the pandemic, but with this recent spike, it has been bottlenecked.
The stricter quarantine measures are meant to bring down the number of cases and workload within the medical system of Ukraine. Most hospitals are at at least 70% capacity with hospitals in Kyiv at over 80% capacity.
