Shmygal: Quarantine will last until we find a treatment protocol or vaccine

The head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Denis Shmygal. Photo: informator.press

Quarantine restrictions will continue in Ukraine until a treatment protocol, medicine or vaccine for coronavirus which will enable us to “control mortality” are found. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal said this in an interview with the “NV” edition on June 25, 2020.

The Prime Minister noted that to date, in no country can the government predict “when COVID-19 will end and when quarantine will end”.

“Now we see that in June and July we are living in quarantine restrictions,” he said. “In more or fewer, but we will not give them up. Moreover, we will live in quarantine restrictions until we find a treatment protocol, a medicine, a vaccine or something that can help us control mortality.”

Denis Shmygal explained that “if the mortality rate of this disease in Ukraine today is between 2.5-2.9%, then with the classic flu it is up to 1%, about 0.8% of people die. Here (in the case of COVID-19 – “NV”), it is almost three times more. Moreover, there are countries where this mortality rate exceeds 10%. This is every tenth person – it’s really scary, it’s a disaster.”

“If zero people die from an illness, you can get sick, it's not scary. One gets sick, a runny nose, fever – cured, the country lives and works without restrictions. Of course, an epidemic is unpleasant, but not fatal, as they say. That is the goal. That is, we must bring the country with minimum losses to the moment of finding the medicine. <...> Until this time, we will live in the mode of saving every human life. And here already, moral and ethical problems compared with economic problems arise, and it is necessary to constantly seek some balance so as not to ruin the economy. And at the same time – to save as many human lives as possible, regardless of what age, gender, and state a person is in — but this is the highest value, of course,” the Prime Minister concluded.

As reported, Ukraine is tightening control over the observance of quarantine restrictions.

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