You're reading: Parliament speaker: Ukraine to cancel all flights starting March 17

Ukraine will cancel all passenger flights after March 16 in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to Parliament Speaker Dmytro Razumkov.

The ban on flights will come into force at midnight on March 17, Razumkov said on the NewsOne TV channel late on March 13. He didn’t specify when the restrictions would end.

Land border crossings will stay open, but will only allow Ukrainian nationals to return to the country.

Razumkov’s announcement came as the latest in a series of measures taken by the Ukrainian government in response to the pandemic that, so far, has affected Ukraine less than its European counterparts. As of March 13, Ukraine had three confirmed cases of coronavirus, one of them fatal.

Earlier on March 13, Ukraine announced it will ban foreign nationals from entering the country for two weeks, starting on March 15.

CORONAVIRUS IN UKRAINE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

  

Effects on economy: