Business Update: April 8 – Ukraine to import, produce COVID-19 medicines, Chornobyl zone continues to burn

Ukraine registered 206 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours that followed the morning of April 7. There are now at least 1,668 confirmed cases in total, with 52 confirmed deaths, the health ministry reports.  “52 were fatal, with 35 recoveries. Over the past day, 206 new cases were recorded,” the Ministry of Health reported on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

Parliament’s health committee is preparing a bill on licensing medicines to fight COVID-19. The Rada’s committee for health and medical insurance is developing a bill on the compulsory licensing of drugs that may be needed to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which would allow production of these medicines to begin at Ukrainian pharmaceutical plants, head of the committee Mykhailo Radutsky said on his Facebook page. 

The country is also negotiating on the supply of medicines from India and other countries. Radutsky said that compulsory licensing is proposed for three months, Interfax reported. Patent owners will be able to receive compensation from the Ukrainian manufacturer. “The national health committee is preparing a bill… for medications to combat COVID-19. We plan to submit it for consideration at the next extraordinary session of the Verkhovna Rada,” he wrote.

The Darnitsa pharma company has purchased hydroxychloroquine and is awaiting its delivery to Ukraine, board chairman of the Darnitsa Group Dmytro Shymkiv said. The medication is used to prevent and treat malaria and rheumatoid arthritis but has recently been successfully used in treatment of some COVID-19 patients. However, it’s overall effectiveness and safety in treating COVID-19 is still being tested. “We are already transporting the active substance, namely hydroxychloroquine, to Ukraine. We managed to reserve it for ourselves at a time when most countries closed the export of this substance,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Shymkiv said that Darnitsa pharmaceutical company is ready to produce hydroxychloroquine medicines but “the main precondition for this is active steps in regulatory matters from the Health Ministry,” he said. Darnitsa pharmaceutical company is one of the ten largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in Ukraine and the top ten largest hospital suppliers.

Internal quarantine measures in Ukraine will likely remain in place into May. Chief Sanitary Officer of Ukraine Viktor Liashko said: “We will comment on the situation no sooner than in 10 days.” The nationwide lockdown has brought the country to a relative standstill and is to last until at least April 24. “At present, we are observing the development of the epidemiological situation in Ukraine, comparing scenarios that are taking place in the EU countries and neighboring countries that later introduced quarantine measures. The decision on quarantine cancellation will be made closer to its completion date,” Liashko said in an online briefing. 

Quarantine measures will likely be extended into early May, confirmed Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal. “Most likely, it will be extended until the beginning of May,” he said during a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on April 8, Ukrainian media reported. He added that strict restrictions would remain in place until May even if the number of cases decreased.

The number of customs violations cases relating to seized goods increased by 38% in the first quarter of 2020, as the authorities locked down borders and checked for smuggling. All of the cases resulted in the seizure of goods, the State Customs Service has stated in new statistics, noting an almost 40% increase in seizures in comparison to the same period in 2019. Of the violations, some 3,561 cases were brought to court – which is 120% more than last year, the authorities said. 

The government has created an Economic Development Council to fight the social and economic impact of COVID-19. Its first meeting will take place on April 10. The Cabinet of Ministers described it as a “temporary advisory and consultative body” to be led by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. According to a government statement, the council should develop proposals for overcoming the crisis and shaping economic policy, before submitting recommendations and suggestions to Cabinet.

Fires continued to smolder in the Chornobyl exclusion zone on April 8 as firefighters struggled to bring blazes in the burning radioactive area under control. There are no open flames in the forested areas of the Chornobyl exclusion zone, but grass and bushes there continue to smolder, the State Emergency Situations Service said, as reported by Interfax. “Some 253 people and 68 units of equipment… are engaged in the firefighting operations. On April 7, the service’s planes dropped water on fires 81 times (288 tonnes of water),” a spokesperson for the emergency services said. 

Although the intensity of the fire has subsided, the burning has spread over a larger area, the emergency services also reported. The smoldering fires in the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant had grown to 35 hectares as of April 7, the State Emergency Situations Service for Kyiv region reported. “As a result of a gust of wind, fire spread… with an area of up to 35 hectares.” Helicopters and planes have been deployed to drop water on the smoking forests. 

Gazprom is allegedly blocking gas transit through Ukraine to some European buyers. The director of the gas transit system in Ukraine, Sergey Makogon, has said that Gazprom has not allowed some European companies to receive gas at the Ukraine-Russia border and would not allow a number of European companies to pump gas to Europe through Ukrainian gas pipelines. Makogon said this in an interview with LIGA.net.

After signing a transit agreement with Russia, a number of European companies asked Gazprom to receive gas at the Ukraine-Russia border, Makogon said, for subsequent delivery to Europe. He commented: “These are European traders who are already buying gas from Gazprom. They asked to transfer the gas at the Ukraine-Russia border. But so far, as far as I know, there is no positive answer,” he said. On December 30, Ukraine and Russia agreed to continue some gas transit through Ukraine for another five years. Two agreements have been signed and the expected revenue from the contract is more than $7 billion.

The Ministry of Infrastructure is working on launching direct flights with China, including the opening of China Airlines flights to Ukraine. “I told the Chinese ambassador – both the previous and the new – that we really want China Airlines to have direct flights with Ukraine, ” said Infrastructure Minister Vladislav Krikliy, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.