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Coronavirus pandemic

Ukrainian president tests positive for coronavirus

He said he had a temperature of 37.5C

Vladimir Zelensky Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

Vladimir Zelensky

© Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

KIEV, November 9. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Monday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

"There are no lucky ones who COVID-19 would not pose a threat to. Despite all the quarantine measures, I also tested positive," Zelensky blogged on his official Telegram channel.

He added that he had a temperature of 37.5C. "I feel well. I promise to self-isolate, and I will continue working," the president said.

Zelensky’s office specified that the president would continue working online. The Telegram channel of the presidential administration blogged that the head of the president’s office, his deputies and the other staff were being tested for coronavirus on a regular basis. One of the deputies to the chief of Zelensky’s office, Yulia Kovaliv, earlier diagnosed with the coronavirus, "has already tested negative and continues working in a routine mode with abiding by the quarantine restrictions," the administration said.

Ukrainian media outlets report that Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko was also infected with the coronavirus. However, these reports have not been confirmed officially as of yet.

Ukraine confirmed its first COVID-19 case on March 3. The government imposed a lockdown on March 17. According to the government’s decision, the restrictions were extended until December 31. Since August 1, new rules of adaptive quarantine were introduced in Ukraine. The country’s regions were divided into four zones, where various restrictions were imposed depending on the epidemiological situation.

On Monday, Ukraine reported 8,687 new coronavirus cases. Overall, the country records 469,018 COVID-19 cases with 209,143 recoveries. As many as 8,565 coronavirus patients have died.

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