Ukrainian president contracts coronavirus – presidential office

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has tested positive for coronavirus, the presidential office said on Monday.

November 9, 2020

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has tested positive for coronavirus, the presidential office said on Monday.

“The head of state is feeling well and will continue to perform his duties remotely in self-isolation,” the office said in a statement.

“Despite all the quarantine measures, I also received a + (positive) result. I have 37.5, and I wish everyone 36.6!”, Zelenskiy said in a Telegram message, referring to his temperature.

Zelenskiy’s wife, Olena, contracted coronavirus in June and spent several weeks in a hospital.

Ukraine went into lockdown in March to control the spread of the coronavirus. In late May the government began to ease the restrictions.

But the daily tally of coronavirus infections spiked in late September and remained consistently high throughout October and early November, prompting the government to extend lockdown measures until the end of this year.

Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said last week the number of new cases could jump to 15,000 a day by the end of November and to 20,000 daily by the end of the year.

Ukraine’s health minister said last week the coronavirus situation in Ukraine was close to catastrophic and that the nation must prepare for the worst.

Zelenskiy said earlier on Monday Ukraine may introduce a lockdown at weekends in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus and such a move would not have a serious negative impact on the economy.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Toby Chopra)