Ukraine Bungles Border Opening, Risks Diplomatic Backlash
A restaurant worker in Kyiv prepares tables for customers after weeks of lockdown.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Health has published a list of 50 “red” countries whose citizens will have to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Ukraine.
Only countries which have 40 deaths per 100,000 population or less fall into the “green zone” - meaning nationals from those countries require no quarantine upon their arrival to Ukraine. At 37 deaths per 100,000, Ukraine is able to rank itself as a green zone country. (Arriving foreigners who can prove they’ve been in a green zone country for 14 days prior are exempt for quarantine requirements).
But the method of calculating high-risk countries is questionable and breaking out two Chinese territories as separate jurisdictions is likely to anger Beijing .
The US and Canada are on the red list while Venezuela and Iran - which have reportedly severely under-counted their Covid-19 case load - are not. China, where the virus originated, is on the green list - even though just last week, it reported a new cluster of Covid-19 cases in Beijing, after more than 50 days without a case in that city. More than 100 cases have now been confirmed.
And in a move which could potentially anger Chinese officials, Ukraine has broken out the Chinese territories of Macau and Hong Kong as separate jurisdictions. Taiwan, which is not recognized by Beijing as an independent country is also listed separately. All three are on the green list.
A more sensible indicator is the number of new cases as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of June 15, Ukraine reported 656 new cases and 12 new deaths, while many countries in the red zone - such as Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany and France - are well below Ukraine’s number of total confirmed new cases and yet ended up in the red zone. This is an important point as all of these countries are important sources of tourism and investment for Ukraine, and a mandatory 14-day quarantine is likely to discourage visitors, especially business travelers.
Curiously, some African countries which have been identified as Covid-19 “hotspots” by the WHO - such as Cameroon and Algeria - are on the green list.
When shown the list, a former senior Ukrainian government official said: “They are just shooting in the dark.”
The document was published on June 15, the first day that Ukraine reopened its borders and resumed international flights after three months of lockdown. The Ministry of Health does not identify the source for its numbers. Neither the WHO or Johns Hopkins University and Medicine - the two most commonly cited sources for Covid-19 statistics - break out Macau or Hong Kong as entities separate from China.
The citizens of countries on the red list will have to undergo self-isolation at a residence, or observation in a government-selected facility upon arriving in Ukraine, says the State Border Service.
On Monday, the WHO repeated warnings to countries not to open up too early. “Even in countries that have demonstrated the ability to suppress Covid-19 transmission, countries must stay alert to the possibility of resurgence,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky is under intense pressure to re-open the economy after weeks of lockdown.
The country’s largest airline, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), is struggling financially, especially after the shoot down of one of its aircraft over Tehran earlier this year. UIA depends on a high percentage of its revenues in transit traffic through Kyiv and it is unclear whether the Ukrainian government followed Singapore’s lead and is allowed transit passengers originating for red listed countries.
You can access the Ministry of Health list of countries here
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, shown here at a rare press conference last month, is under pressure to re-open the Ukrainian economy.