UKRANIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY HOSPITALIZED AFTER TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

Originally published in IR Insider in November 2020 (IR Insider page archived)

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wearing a mask during a public appearance.

Source: US News

On Monday, Nov. 9, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy tested positive for COVID-19 alongside the head of presidential office Andriy Yermak, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and Defense Minister Denys Shmygal. At the time, the president said that while he had a temperature of 99.5℉ (37.5℃), he ‘felt good.’

After his diagnosis President Zelenskyy also tweeted, stating that he would take measures to self-isolate and emphasized the threat that COVID poses to any and all persons.

However, according to the president's spokeswoman, on Thursday, Nov. 12, the president was admitted to Feofania Hospital, which reportedly is a facility that has “better conditions...and care for coronavirus patients.”

As of Saturday, Nov. 14, Ukraine had confirmed 525,176 COVID-19 cases and 9,508 deaths, according to the Cabinet Ministers of Ukraine’s website. The spike in cases in Ukraine began in September and has not subsided since, with approximately 12,000 new coronavirus cases being identified each day.

Earlier in 2020, even the First Lady Olena Zelenska and her son Kyrylo Zelenskyy tested positive for the virus, but had reportedly recovered by June. At the time, neither the president nor his daughter was infected.

In response to the President’s diagnosis and the second wave in Europe, President Zelenskyy’s cabinet implemented a national weekend lockdown last Wednesday, Nov. 11. This includes a mandatory shutdown of non-essential businesses over weekends starting Nov. 14.

The move sparked mass protests near the government headquarters. Workers from the restaurant industry, in particular, took to the streets and clanged pots and pans in Kyiv to express their frustration. The lockdown measures have come into effect as of this Saturday and will continue to stay in place, at least until Monday, Nov. 30.

The growing list of heads of state who have been infected with COVID-19, including Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, is cause for great concern. However, if the lockdown measures curtail the spread of COVID-19 and if President Zelenskyy makes a speedy recovery, the situation in Ukraine may provide hope in the fight against the virus that has shaken the world this year.