Government not to gather this week to decide on future quarantine in Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ministers will not gather for a meeting this week, which was supposed to consider measures to toughen the coronavirus quarantine in Ukraine.

The meeting will not take place because Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and some ministers are scheduled to visit Brussels, according to the nv.ua media outlet, which cites a source in the government.

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"Tomorrow, the prime minister, together with some ministers, will fly to Brussels. Accordingly, this week there will be no scheduled government meeting and a decision to return to the colored [quarantine-related] zones will not be taken," it reported on February 8.

Proposals as for additional quarantine measures must be submitted by the Health Ministry, it said.

"When they consider tougher curbs depends on when the [health] ministry submits proposals, so that there is time for detailed consideration and discussion," the source added.

Quarantine in Ukraine: Known facts

• On February 3, it was reported that the government would decide on the return to the so-called adaptive quarantine in the near-term outlook.
• The adaptive quarantine was first introduced in Ukraine on August 1. Then the country's regions were divided into red, orange, yellow, green zones, taking into account bed occupancy in hospitals, the average number of COVID-19 tests, newly confirmed cases per day, and dynamics of their growth.
• If the adaptive quarantine is re-imposed in Ukraine, Kyiv will always be in the orange zone as a capital city.