Ukraine to take restrictive measures over coronavirus

The Ukrainian Health Ministry will take restrictive measures due to the novel coronavirus, Deputy Health Minister, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko has said.
"In the near future, unfortunately, we will have to take restrictive anti-epidemic measures. We will ban the holding of mass events, conferences, sports events. We will temporarily close schools for restrictive anti-epidemic measures. We will disrupt the educational process in order to reduce mass gatherings of people," Liashko said at a briefing in Novi Sanzhary, Poltava region, on Thursday.

He recalled that the virus is transmitted through the air and a safe distance with a person with an acute respiratory infection is 1.5-2 meters.

At the same time, Liashko stressed that wearing medical masks makes sense for people who are already ill, and they do not protect healthy people from the disease but only create a false sense of security.

"I appeal to the population of Ukraine: no need to buy masks. Masks are a false sense of security. Masks should only be worn by a person who has symptoms of an acute respiratory infection and should be worn in those cases. We should not create the fuss where it is not needed. Buy soap, wash your hands with soap, treat your hands with an antiseptic," Liashko said.