Compliance with quarantine measures is necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, but some local authorities want to create political advertising for themselves claiming that the quarantine is too strict, as stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with media representatives in the Ternopil region.
The Head of State stressed that thanks to quarantine measures, our country managed to avoid the severe consequences of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring. Then there was a maximum of 300 new patients a day.
"Because of political games and preparations for local elections, some local authorities, especially in regional cities, for some reason began to fight verbally with the central government because the government is "tightening the screws" and wanted to ease the quarantine," the President said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that political agitation before the local elections also influences the growth of the number of patients in Ukraine.
"In villages, small towns, if people see that the head of the village, the head of UTC, the mayor comes out and says: I think that the authorities overestimate the complexity of the situation, that there is nothing terrible, that the city day can be held and 20-30 thousand people can gather, - people see, align themselves and behave this way. People focus on leaders," the Head of State said.
He noted that in this case, the responsibility for the deterioration of the epidemic situation and the increase in the number of infected people in a particular locality lies with the local authorities.
According to the President, compared to other countries, Ukraine has a rather liberal quarantine format.
"There, if people don’t wear masks they get fined right on the street, and not only fined financially, but sometimes even with the use of physical force," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
He stressed that there can be no compromises on the issue of quarantine measures, because the price of such a compromise can be lost lives.
"I would not compromise with anyone, because compromises will result in the number of patients, and the result will be the number of dead people," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.