Quarantine cannot be eased in Ukraine during Easter holidays – President's Office

Such an agreement was reached at a traditional meeting on combating the coronavirus chaired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the press service of the head of state reported.

"The quarantine is what saves us. Coronavirus is not spreading so fat due to the fact that we have introduced [the quarantine] on time. We see that many Ukrainians treat the quarantine with responsibility, although it's not easy. We must be responsible for people and do all to make their lives easier at this time," Zelensky said.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, in turn, said that programs for payments to low-income people had been developed for this purpose.

"Already yesterday, we started to make additional payments to retirees who are over 80 years of age. Next week, we will pay an additional UAH 1,000 to those who have a pension lower than UAH 5,000. All such retirees will receive this money by the end of April," Shmyhal said.

In addition, on the instruction of the president, the government classified the categories of population that will be granted additional assistance. These include, in particular, the unemployed, low-income families with children, small and medium-sized businesses.

According to the Public Health Center, 1,668 coronavirus cases were recorded in Ukraine as of 09:00 on April 8. Fifty-two people died, and 35 patients recovered. A total of 206 new cases have been recorded in Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

op