Critical epidemic situation in Donbas. Hospitals are overcrowded

The situation related to the spread of the coronavirus in the separatist republics in eastern Ukraine is critical – said Pavlo Lysiansky, a representative of the Ukrainian office of the human rights ombudsman in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

According to him, hospitals in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by Kiev are overcrowded, and there are no personal protective equipment in pharmacies.

As he added, generally accepted principles such as social distancing or the need to wear masks in public spaces are not followed. Mass gatherings are also held, such as the Forum “Together with Russia”.

Łysianskij stated that doctors recognize in patients: acute inflammation of the respiratory tract, pneumonia and possibly – coronavirus infection. For the first two diagnoses, people are sent home. Separatists do not reveal true figures on the number of Covid-19 patients – he declared.

A representative of the human rights ombudsman’s office assessed that authorities of the so-called republics put political projects above the protection of the life and health of the inhabitants.

Wira Jastrebowa, director of the Eastern Human Rights Defense Group, said that from August to October in prisons in the so-called In the Luhansk People’s Republic, 19 people died of pneumonia. According to her, the prisoners do not have personal protective equipment. Penal colony administrations do not report cases of infection or death due to the coronavirus.

The separatist Donetsk People’s Republic says 4,556 people have contracted the coronavirus since the outbreak began, and 289 of them have died. The so-called The Luhansk People’s Republic reports 1,209 infections and 52 deaths.

The Ukrainian health ministry emphasizes that there are no data available on coronavirus infections in the Crimea annexed by Russia, in Sevastopol and in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts controlled by pro-Russian separatists.