In Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic is just beginning to unfold. I witnessed the start of it in Kostiantynivka, a town in Donetsk region where I was recently hospitalised together with a colleague. We had just returned from a work trip to Germany to another town in the region, Sloviansk, where the crisis was quickly evolving, and my colleague felt some of the symptoms.
We had travelled separately, but our work trips were both timed around 11 March. That day, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global pandemic – and the Ukrainian government introduced a quarantine. Initially planned to last three weeks, this quarantine was later extended until 24 April.
A few days later, more measures were announced in Ukraine, such as the closure of all educational facilities, limits on public transport, closure of border crossings, suspension of all inter-city trains and city subway systems, and cancellation of all flights, except specially organised flights for Ukrainian citizens abroad. Since 28 March, access to and from Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions has been limited in order to curb the spread of the virus among military personnel stationed along the line of contact. Ravaged by six years of armed conflict, with hospitals in a disastrous state and an aging population, the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are at particular risk.
