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Zelensky in hospital as Ukraine tightened Covid rules
Summary
A look back at a day when the president's illness and a new weekend lockdown shaped Ukraine's response to the pandemic.
What did it mean for Ukraine when its president fell ill with COVID-19 just as the government changed its pandemic rules? On 12 November 2020, President Volodymyr Zelensky was hospitalised after contracting the virus earlier that week.
The day before, on 11 November 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers had scrapped the adaptive quarantine and introduced a weekend lockdown instead. The two developments came within a day of each other, placing the pandemic at the centre of Ukrainian public life.
The hospitalisation of the head of state was reported as part of the wider spread of COVID-19 across Europe, in which Ukraine was one of the affected countries. The government's decision the previous day marked a change of approach: the adaptive system gave way to a lockdown applying only at weekends.
Together, the two events showed the pandemic reaching both the country's policy and its highest office within the same 48 hours.
