1. General information (Details at https://covid19.gov.ua/)
It is now known that COVID-19 is transmitted through droplets and contact.
The virus does not circulate in the air, but is transmitted from person to person
The virus is not able to travel long distances. It is present only in droplets that a person exhales when coughing or sneezing. Distance is a guarantee of safety. This is a factor in breaking the epidemic chain. Therefore, it is impossible to get infected even from an infected person if you are at a distance of more than 1.5 m.
The contact route of infection prevails
Most often, the virus enters the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes through hands or other objects (handkerchief, gloves) after touching objects (animals, meat, fish, doorknobs, handrails), contaminated with secretions from the respiratory tract of the patient or infected.
Can animals be infected?
There is currently no official evidence that pets, such as dogs or cats, may be carriers of the new coronavirus. However, after contact with pets, we recommend washing your hands with soap and water. This will protect you from the risk of spreading a number of bacteria that a person can get from pets.
Is the virus transmitted through fruit?
Fruit is an unsuitable environment for long-term survival of the virus. There are no data on the transmission of the virus through fruit. We remind you that the fruit must be washed thoroughly, but this is a standard recommendation.
How long does the virus live on surfaces? How can you kill a virus?
The virus can remain viable on surfaces from 3 hours to several days. Specific terms depend on a number of conditions. For example, surface type, temperature and humidity. Therefore, it is important to disinfect surfaces, door handles, appliances, etc.
Is it true that the virus is only transmitted to the elderly?
People of any age can be infected, so everyone should follow the virus protection measures. Elderly people and patients with chronic diseases are at heightened risk.
How to protect yourself from viral infections
- Strengthen immunity and monitor well-being. Important factors are proper nutrition, healthy sleep, exercise and water balance.
- At the first symptoms of SARS, consult your family doctor.
- Wash your hands often with soap for 20 seconds or use an antiseptic with an alcohol content of at least 60-80%.
- Avoid contact with people with symptoms of SARS, the minimum distance is 1.5 meters.
- Avoid touching your face, do not touch your eyes, nose and mouth with dirty hands.
- Heat the products: do not eat raw meat, meat offal and eggs.
Useful contact links
- World Health Organization – 15-45 (Government Hotline)
- Ministry of Health of Ukraine – 0 800 505 201 (Ministry of Health Hotline)
- Public Health Center – 0 800 505 840 (Public Health Center Hotline)
- National Health Service – 16-77 (NHS Reference Service)
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine – 044 238 16 57 (Round-the-clock operational service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
2. Border crossing. (Details at https://covid19.gov.ua/border)
From 00:00 on August 29, foreigners and stateless persons are prohibited from entering the territory of Ukraine, except:
- foreigners in transit;
- persons studying in Ukraine, permanent residents, recognized as refugees or persons in need of additional protection;
- representatives of diplomatic missions, consular posts of foreign states, presentation international missions, organizations accredited in Ukraine arrive at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;
- drivers, crew members of trucks, vehicles, regular buses, crew members of sea and river aircraft;
- persons serving in the Armed Forces, instructors of the armed forces of member states and NATO member states, or persons arriving at the invitation of the Ministry of Defense;
- cultural figures invited by cultural institutions, participants of sports competitions held on the territory of Ukraine;
- persons transporting cells for transplantation arrive for treatment at health care facilities in Ukraine;
- citizens of Belarus, in case of application.
3. Insurance policy requirements
According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of May 20, 2020 № 392 (as amended https://www.kmu.gov.ua/npas/pro-vstanovlennya-karantinu-ta-zapr-641 ) “On the establishment of quarantine to prevent the spread on the territory of Ukraine of acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 “/ for the period of quarantine it is prohibited to cross the state border of Ukraine by foreigners and stateless persons (except foreigners, stateless persons permanently residing in Ukraine and persons recognized as refugees or persons in need of additional protection, employees of diplomatic missions and consular posts of foreign states, representations of official international missions, organizations accredited in Ukraine, and members of their families, servicemen (units) of the armed forces of NATO member states and states – NATO Partnership for Peace members participating in Armed Forces training activities (without an existing policy certificate) of insurance issued by an insurance company registered in Ukraine or a foreign insurance company with a representative office in Ukraine or a contractual relationship with a partner insurance company in Ukraine (assistance), and covers the costs associated with treatment with COVID-19, observation, and valid for the period of stay in Ukraine. The policy must cover the costs of COVID-19 treatment, observation and be valid throughout your stay in Ukraine. Foreigners who do not have an insurance policy (certificate) will be denied crossing the state border by an authorized official of the state border protection unit.
4. Conditions for mandatory self-isolation and / or observation and their procedures
Currently, countries are divided into two categories: the green zone and the red zone.
The country’s position in accordance with the “red” and “green” zones will be taken into account at the time of customs control in Ukraine, and not at the time of departure of a foreigner from his country. Statistics are collected and published by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
For citizens of the “GREEN” zone
If a foreign citizen came from the “green” zone, he has the opportunity not to undergo the self-isolation, observation. The condition for staying in the country is the availability of a health insurance policy covering COVID-19 treatment and observation. In the case of a transit flight through a “red zone” country, the zone of the country of departure is taken into account.
For citizens of the “RED” zone countries
The “red” zone includes countries with a significant spread of COVID-19.
The list of such countries will be reviewed by the Ministry of Health every 7 days.
If a foreign citizen came from the “red” zone, he is subject to:
- self-isolation, he is obliged to install and activate the mobile application «Act at home»;
- in case of impossibility to use the mobile application for self-isolation, the foreigner must leave for observation.
Self-isolation or observation of a person in connection with crossing the state border is terminated if he / she receives a negative PCR test for COVID-19, which was conducted after crossing the state border or no later than 48 hours before crossing.
At the same time, we pay special attention to the fact that the rule of terminating a person’s self-isolation does not apply to the procedure for crossing the state border. That is, when crossing the border, the installation and activation of the mobile application «Action at home» is mandatory, and you can use the results of the PCR test, including no later than 48 hours before crossing the border, to stop self-isolation, you can already after crossing the border.
5. Self-isolation
The order of self-isolation
Self-isolation is performed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to reduce the number of patients with severe COVID-19. According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of May 20, 2020 № 392 “On the establishment of quarantine to prevent the spread on the territory of Ukraine of acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2” are subject to self-isolation:
- persons who have had contact with a patient with a confirmed case of COVID-19, except for persons who used personal protective equipment in the course of their duties in accordance with the recommendations for their use;
- persons with suspected infection or with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in mild form, provided that the person does not require hospitalization;
- persons crossing the state border and arriving from the state or being citizens (subjects) of states with a significant spread of COVID-19.
The term of self-isolation is 14 days.
The commitment to self-isolation is terminated automatically after the end of the self-isolation period or in the event of a negative PCR test on COVID-19. Persons in need of self-isolation are obliged to be constantly in a place of self-isolation determined by them, to refrain from contact with persons other than those with whom they live together.
Ongoing control using the system through the mobile application is carried out using a set of information, in particular by checking the correspondence of the photo of the person’s face to the reference photo taken during the installation of the mobile application and geolocation of the mobile phone at the time of photography.
After installing the mobile application at any time during the day the person receives a message (push-message). If you receive a message, the person must take a photo of their face within 15 minutes using the mobile application.
In case of inconsistency of geolocation or photo, lack of communication with a person through a mobile application, deletion, setting restrictions on the transmission of information via a mobile application, the National Police will be notified of a violation of the obligation of self-isolation. The sending of the notification is the basis for further monitoring by the National Police and the National Guard of the obligation to self-isolate.
Persons in need of self-isolation (except for persons with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19) and for whom the social security authorities have entered into the system information about the impossibility of their social support or for whom current control is carried out using a mobile application are allowed:
- visits to places of trade in food, hygiene products, medicines, medical devices, which are located at a distance of not more than 2 kilometers from the place of self-isolation, daily for two hours a day, provided personal protective equipment, including respirators without exhalation valve or medical masks without exhalation valve.
- walk pets twice a day for no more than one hour a day, provided that personal protective equipment is used, including respirators without an exhalation valve or medical masks without an exhalation valve.
Operation of the application «Action at home»
In order to counteract the spread of COVID-19 and monitor self-isolation, the electronic service / mobile application “Action at Home” of the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services is used.
Install the application by scanning the QR code on the information posters in the areas of passport control, or find “Action at home” in the App Store / Play Market.
How to log in to the application?
- Enter the Ukrainian mobile phone number, confirm the registration with a code that will be sent to the specified phone number;
- Fill in the data on the location of the isolation site;
- After filling in the data on the place of self-isolation, the window “Are you already at the address of self-isolation or observation?” Will appear in the appendix. You will need to show this window to the representative of the State Border Guard Service;
- Confirm arrival at the address of self-isolation must be sent by photo after arrival at the place of isolation. The location must match the one you specified when logging in to the application.
The system enters information about:
- surname, name, patronymic of the person;
- to become;
- date of birth;;
- the place of self-isolation determined by the person (in case the person does not provide information about the place of self-isolation, the place of self-isolation is considered to be the registered place of residence of the person);
- registered place of residence of the person;
- means of communication (telephone number);
- place of work, educational institution with indication of their addresses;
- the possibility of providing care for the person by other persons;
- state of health (in particular about the course of COVID-19 disease, the results of research by the method of polymerase chain reaction, the hospitalization of the person);
- contact persons (if any);
- the period of self-isolation.
Instructions for using the electronic service “Act at home” at the link: https://www.kmu.gov.ua/storage/app/sites/1/18%20-%20Department/18%20-%20PDF/04.2020/instrukciya-diy-vdoma.pdf
If you have any questions about the application, contact the technical support service of the application: https://chat.diia.gov.ua/
COVID-19 PCR test
Conditions for using a negative test result for COVID-19 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Algorithm for passing the PCR test and termination of self-isolation through the application “Action at home” https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/algoritm-pripinennya-samoizolyaciyi-dlya-osib-yaki-peretnuliderzhavnij-kordon
If a foreign citizen who came from the “red” zone does not want to undergo self-isolation for 14 days and wants to pass the PCR test to cancel the self-isolation, he must follow the following steps:
- Be sure to install the application “Act at home”, indicating your telephone number and place of self-isolation;
- After crossing the border, a person has 24 hours to reach the place of self-isolation. During this time, the application will automatically remind you to mark whether a person has arrived at the location;
- During these 24 hours it is possible to pass the PCR test in the laboratory / clinic, which is on the list of the Center for Public Health (List of certified laboratories of Ukraine). https://www.kmu.gov.ua/news/algoritm-pripinennya-samoizolyaciyi-dlya-osib-yaki-peretnuli-derzhavnij-kordon
Labs that are not listed do not have access to the system and therefore cannot enter the result test to remove self-isolation; - During the test, the person must provide the representatives of the laboratory with a telephone number, which is linked to the application “Action at home” and fill out an informed consent to the processing of data. The consent must indicate the fact of crossing the Ukrainian border, if it took place during the last 14 days and the exact date of arrival in Ukraine;
- After passing the test, the person is sent to the place of his / her isolation and indicates in the appendix whether he / she has arrived to the given location;
- The test result should be within 24-48 hours after delivery;
- Employees of the laboratory must independently transmit a negative test result to the electronic system of the Public Health Center, indicating the telephone number of the foreigner, which is linked to the application “Action at home”;
- In turn, this system is automatically synchronized with the application “Action at home”;
- Thus, in the application of a foreigner, self-isolation is automatically canceled and he can leave the room and travel;
- The test, which was passed in the laboratory not from the list of CGZ, is not credited;
- The application “Actions at home” is not deleted during the entire stay in Ukraine;
- A person cannot independently enter the results of a negative test in the application;
- A person cannot leave the place of self-isolation until the moment of receiving a notification in the appendix “Actions at home” regarding the removal of self-isolation from a person.
6. Observation
Individuals who report non-compliance with the obligation to self-isolation (including the use of a mobile application when crossing the state border) are subject to observation. The stay of persons in the observatories, in addition to food, is free. Persons in the observatories may receive personal belongings, food (except for alcoholic beverages and prohibited items) and are obliged to follow the rules established by the administration of the observation site. Transportation of persons from the place of observation to the places of residence is carried out at the own expense of the persons.
Stay in the observatories of foreigners and stateless persons (except for foreigners, stateless persons who are permanently residents in Ukraine and persons recognized as refugees, or persons in need of additional protection) is paid by the insurer in accordance with the insurance policy (certificate) associated with the observation, or such persons themselves.