UPDATED: Full Transport Lockdown in Kyiv as of March 23

21 March 2020 14:03

The Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, has announced full public transport lockdown from March 22 in a Facebook comment. But the Kyiv authorities have failed to confirm or deny this information.

The mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Vitaliy Klychko, has said that as of March 23, all passenger transportation will be stopped in the city in order to stop the coronavirus from spreading.

Klychko said this during a live address broadcasted by Hromadske.

The capital's public transport will only carry the workers of the companies and enterprises that "ensure critically important areas of the city life."

Those are "medical care workers, rescuers, law enforcement officers, housing and communal services specialists, people who work in grocery stores and pharmacies, as well as the employees of strategic enterprises," the mayor said.

For this to work, "special schemes were developed," which will be made public later on March 21. Those people who are not covered by the new restrictions and, therefore, are allowed to keep traveling will be provided with special transport passes.

This comes about an hour after Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced this measure in a Facebook comment. Avakov also wrote that the nationwide restrictions around Ukraine will become "a lot stricter" in the coming days.

The total number of coronavirus cases as of March 20, 11 p.m. is 41. That includes 3 deaths and 1 recovery.

At the moment, shopping malls, entertainment centers, restaurants, and cafes are all shut down in Kyiv, other than for takeaway and delivery. The underground transport systems in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro have been closed, too.