Ukraine’s Health Minister calls on parliament to introduce national emergency

“Health Minister Illia Yemets is calling on lawmakers to demonstrate determination, be brave and get together for the sake of the Ukrainians and vote for the introduction a national emergency,” the Health Ministry said on Facebook on March 23.

The ministry also says that all parliamentarians should undergo preliminary coronavirus testing before they gather to vote.

Read alsoUkraine’s Health Minister Yemets said to be going to resign – lawmakers

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers on March 11 decided to introduce quarantine in Ukraine from March 12 to April 3 over the spread of the coronavirus.

As of the morning of March 23, there were 73 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine, including three deaths and one recovery. Geographically they are distributed the following way: Dnipropetrovsk region: 2; Donetsk region: 1; Zhytomyr region: 2 (incl. one death); Ivano-Frankivsk region: 5 (incl. one death), of them three confirmed in the past day; Kyiv (city): 29, of them 20 confirmed in the past day; Kyiv region: 5, of them one confirmed in the past day; Lviv region:  2, of them one confirmed in the past day; Ternopil region: 1; Chernivtsi region: 25 (incl. one death); Cherkasy region: 1, which was confirmed in the past day.

The first death from the new coronavirus in the country (a 71-year-old woman in Zhytomyr region) was reported on March 13. The second death – a 33-year-old woman tested positive on March 17 – was reported in Chernivtsi region. The third fatal case was a 56-year-old woman, who died in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk on March 18.