President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a traditional conference call with the heads of regional state administrations and mayors to counter the spread of coronavirus. First of all, the Head of State was interested in the situation in the Chernivtsi, Ternopil regions and Kyiv, where the highest number of cases of infection was recorded, as well as in the Mykolaiv region, the only region where there are still no laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The heads of the Chernivtsi and Ternopil regional state administrations reported that residents of the regions responded positively to the additional quarantine recommendation to stay at home during the weekends - from 13:00 Saturday to 6:00 Monday.
In Kyiv, which now has 279 cases of infection, there are 28 mobile groups testing people for the disease. Their work facilitates the delivery of medical tests for COVID-19 detection.
The heads of these regions reported on the measures to counteract the epidemic.
The head of the Mykolaiv regional state administration reported that nine patients with suspected coronavirus are in the regional infectious hospital now. But so far no test has shown a positive result. The participants of the meeting decided to send a group of experts from the Ministry of Health to the Mykolaiv region to make sure that the tests were carried out correctly.
The President said that now is not the time to discuss the full restoration of public transport, because the Easter holidays make April a very dangerous month in terms of infection.
The Head of State also said that the central government considered the proposals of the regional leaders on amendments to the budget.
"We have already received your budget proposals that you have developed according to the needs caused by the epidemic. The government has considered them, selected the most relevant ones and is ready to discuss the decisions and invite the parliament to vote on effective proposals,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the heads of the regional state administrations and heads of regional centers.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed that the Cabinet of Ministers supported the idea of regional leaders on providing food kits to single people and centralizing the purchase of equipment.
"We hope that by the end of the week the parliament will have voted on changes to the budget, so that the government will be able to create a special fund that will provide different revenues to the regions, including subvention for measures to combat coronavirus," Denys Shmyhal said.
Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov reported on the completion of inspections on compliance with the Ministry of Health's standards for assistance to patients with COVID-19. He pointed out that in some regions the approved algorithms for patient delivery are not observed, effective disinfection of ambulance cars is not carried out, there is unnecessary and dangerous saving of PCR tests, as well as hot lines of regional health departments do not work properly. RSAs should address these issues.
The President also commended the effectiveness of dialogue with the regions.
“I can already see how such conference calls have helped us solve many regional problems and better understand the situation in the regions. Such a dialogue will directly help solve the problems of Ukrainians,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.