Restaurants, cafes in three regions to be shut down for week over COVID-19 spread

Ukrainian Deputy Health Minister, Chief Medical Officer Viktor Liashko has said restaurants and cafes in three Ukrainian regions will be shut down for a week over the spread of the coronavirus.

The relevant decisions were made on Wednesday by local commissions, he said during the Svoboda Slova [Freedom of Speech] panel show hosted by Savik Shuster on Friday.

Read alsoChernivtsi governor warns of COVID-19 situation: "Very threatening"The official linked the spread of the disease with tourism.

"If we analyze today the outbreaks that we have in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia regions, these are the three most critical regions in the number of new cases. We may clearly trace these are the routes associated with the mass movement of the tourist business. Therefore, the local commissions on Wednesday decided to suspend all entertainment infrastructure and catering establishments for a week," he said.

Coronavirus in Ivano-Frankivsk region

• There is an extremely high incidence of coronavirus cases in Ivano-Frankivsk region. The bed occupancy rate in many local hospitals exceeds 90%.
• On February 17, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Health, Medical Assistance and Health Insurance Mykhailo Radutsky said the first makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients had been established in Ukraine.