OREANDA-NEWS. Ukraine is preparing to introduce so called “weekend quarantine” regime. This was reported by the news agency Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the head of the country's Ministry of Healthcare, Maksym Stepanov. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also spoke about the advantages of this initiative. The Ukrainian government may decide on the quarantine in the near future.

“A temporary weekend quarantine regime, imposed for about a few weeks, could help us avoid a hard lockdown. Thus, we will avoid a large increase in the number of patients and will have time to prepare the required number of hospital beds,” Zelensky said.

Stepanov explained what the weekend quarantine regime provides for the following: from 00:00 Saturday to 00:00 Monday, only grocery stores, pharmacies, transport, gasoline stations and veterinary drug stores will work; catering enterprises will work only for takeaway. The Ministry of Healthcare also recommends closing shopping and entertainment centers and not holding mass events at weekends.