MainNews -

Scoop of the day: Zelenskyy contracts coronavirus

Scoop of the day: Zelenskyy contracts coronavirus

Coronavirus

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his chief of staff Andriy Yermak have taken to social media to announce that they have tested positive for the coronavirus. Both said that they were feeling fine and planned to continue to perform their duties in self-isolation.

According to pro-presidential MP Iryna Vereshchuk, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko is also on a sick leave due to the coronavirus.

The Ukrainian authorities are mulling a so-called "weekend quarantine" to slow down the surge in coronavirus cases. According to Zelenskyy, it may be introduced for "approximately several weeks".

Ukraine is moving to the next stage of coronavirus response when hospitals stop to accepting for scheduled hospitalisations and surgeries and only treat urgent cases and coronavirus patients, according to Chief Sanitarian Officer Viktor Lyashko.

Exclusive: Although Health Minister Maksym Stepanov promised family doctors a pay rise on 30 October, it has not materialised because his initiative had not been agreed with the Finance Ministry, LB.ua has learnt from the latter.

Local elections

Ex-President Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity party has issued a statement in which it demanded that the authorities establish and announce local election results which should have been done on 6 November at the latest, according to the Electoral Code. The party is concerning about vote-rigging during the delay.

The Kharkiv police have opened a criminal case over the disappearance of city mayor Hennadiy Kernes at the request of a local NGO head. In early September, Kernes contracted the coronavirus and was flown to Germany for treatment due to complications. Despite his absence, he even won the mayoral election.

Economy

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) governor Kyrylo Shevchenko has met IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Ivanna Vladkova Hollar and said that "continued cooperation with the IMF is strategically important for Ukraine". The NBU is further implementing finance reform and meeting its commitments to international partners, he added.

The annual inflation in Ukraine has sped up to 2.6%, Interfax-Ukraine has quoted the State Statistics Service as saying.

Read LB.ua news on social networks Facebook, Twitter and Telegram