Minister explains why they chose January 8 as beginning of lockdown
The government relied on data and forecasts from analysts at the National Security and Defense Council and the Ministry of Health, setting January 8 as the start date for tougher quarantine restrictions.
Cabinet Minister Oleh Nemchinov reported about it on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel.
"January 8 was chosen based on the forecasts given by analysts of the Secretariat of the National Security and Defense Council and the Ministry of Health, who predicted indicators before the peak. In this case, the preliminary forecasts were immediately after the New Year. We calculated the effect of the weekend quarantine, looked at which plateau we are on, not just the incidence, but the occupancy of beds, and suggested the 8th," Nemchinov said.
According to him, the Cabinet of Ministers has established that the toughened quarantine measures in Ukraine will be in force on January 8-24, but it'll not be as harsh a lockdown in the spring, because then the authorities didn't fully understand the scale of the problem.
Now the situation has become clearer, so there's no need to close international traffic or completely stop transport within the country, because the people who support the economy, like doctors, law enforcement, couldn't get to work, as Nemchinov said.
"In fact, quarantine restrictions related to the shutdown of the economy are an extreme measure taken by the government of any country. Therefore, the opportunity given to us by the weekend quarantine to prepare the medical system and increase the critical threshold for the medical system from 20 thousand up to 32,000 patients a day, which the system can now withstand, is a chance to postpone this period," the minister said.
