In face of business pressure to soften or shorten the lockdown

In face of business pressure to soften or shorten the lockdown, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told reporters yesterday: “The Health Ministry is against the postponement of the quarantine, against its cancellation.” He said of the 23,000 people hospitalized for Covid, 10% are seriously ill and “about 200 people die from the disease every day.” Stepanov denounced as “political PR” a move by Biolik, a Kharkiv pharmaceutical firm, to register in Ukraine Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine. Stepanov told Reuters: “It would be very mild to say that we are not sure about the Russian vaccine. We do not know how the research was carried out.”