Coronavirus situation in Ukraine: An Inside Look

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Quarantine in Ukraine - An Inside Look

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Hello, guys!

I've been staying at home for almost 4 weeks now. Although it is getting more and more challenging, I am thankful that I still can work from home, and my salary is the same. I am the only lucky person in my whole family, because my husband is paid 70%, and the income of my daughter and my mother is almost 0. Here in Ukraine, I think it is just a start.

At the moment, we have a total of 1,462 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 28 healed and 45 died. But these absolute numbers mean not much without the context.

The first infected person was registered in Ukraine on March 3. The man returned from Italy. Quarantine in the whole country started on March, 12th, and 2 more infected. All educational institutions, shopping malls, gyms, markets and so on are closed, international flights are suspended, mass events (more than 200 people) are prohibited.

No country in the world, no medical system was prepared to fight the virus. But in our country, the situation is worse than the average. That's why it was a very wise decision (and our only chance) to start a quarantine early enough.

But! When European countries decided to close their borders too, the more Ukrainians return home. Many of them are infected, but most of them don't care about it, as well as about their quarantine obligation. Some go on walking in the streets, going to church and other crowded public places, visiting other cities. Therefore, the number of infected dramatically grows each day.

Ordinal disposable medical masks do not protect very well, but we cannot find them in pharmacy. There is a catastrophic lack of them in hospitals in small towns. No masks, No sanitizers - say announcement at the doors. Although, there is a large choice on the net, for 50-100 times from the usual price of the mask!!! Meanwhile, recently Ukraine increased daily production of masks up to 800 000! Some medical staff take vacations or quit. Truth to be said, that many of them obviously involves a lot of misconduct at work. In the cities with the highest number of infected and dead, the outbreak of the disease began with infected medical workers.

Unexpectedly, our oligarchs and MPs were locked in their own country in unusual circumstances. They are used to coming here for work, and on weekends or (heaven forbid) on medical needs they go to Europe, the USA and other more attractive places, with better air, roads and quality of services. The heavenly hosts went down to Earth...

Since March 23, the metro has been closed in Kyiv and other big cities, with many land routes only physicians, rescuers, law enforcement, utility specialists, grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as employees of strategic enterprises can use. Most stores, cinemas, theaters, malls and other public places are closed. Many businesses are suspended and their employees are either on vacation or working remotely. In addition, interurban and international passenger transport services have been stopped.

Since Monday April 6th, restrictions are tightened.
What is prohibited now:

• to move on the streets more than two persons, except for those who accompany the children;
• be on public places without a mask or respirator;
• be on the streets without identification documents;
• visits to parks, squares, recreation areas, forest parks, and coastal areas, except for walking domestic dogs with one person and in case of business necessity;
• visits to palliative care, social protection, social care institutions, and institutions.
  Only 21 border crossings will remain open, and mandatory observation of all persons arriving in Ukraine for a period of 14 days is introduced.

As I said, I don't go out, except visiting the doctor and buy food, about once a week. But before a total lockdown, I decided to walk in my surroundings with my husband on Saturday. I captured these shots on that day. The weather was so nice, and the danger is so ... invisible...

As for me, the weakest link we have here is people. Sometimes I think that first, the virus damages one's brain. Because of ... a lot of people just behalf like immortal. Their acts have no common sense or logic.

Anyway, I feel lucky, because on times like these we are reminded, that no matter how bad it is, it always can get worse. Let's appreciate what we have, and pray for better.

P. S. It had to be my submission to "Coronavirus Impact Writing Contest". Unfortunately, I have no account on Twitter, thus I can't comply with all rules. But I decided to leave it here to let people know about the situation, and use a cross-posting feature of just-released Travelfeed.io 3.0. Thank you so much for your time and interaction. Take care!

@zirochka

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