Poland has closed all schools, museums and cinemas, while Ukraine’s capital city Kiev will shut all educational buildings due to fears of coronavirus spreading.
Poland has only 26 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and no recorded fatalities.
Ukraine’s capital Kiev also announced today that it will be closing schools and universities until the end of March to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
‘We are introducing preventive measures in Kiev as of March 12,’ mayor Vitaly Klitschko said in a statement, adding classes would be suspended in schools and universities until the end of March.
It is the next move in a sweeping set of preventive measures being implemented by the former eastern bloc countries.
Polish Border Guard officers during a sanitary control on the Polish-Ukrainian railway border in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, yesterday
Health workers wear a protective masks and suits as they stands next to a temporary health facility before screening passengers on the A1 highway near the Polish-Czech border yesterday in Gorzyczki, Poland
Police officers in protective suits conduct medical checks and temperature measurements of drivers and passengers at the Polish-Czech border crossing yesterday due to concerns about the spread of the new coronavirus
Poland’s top military commander, General Jaroslaw Mika, contracted the coronavirus while on a mission in Germany, the defence ministry tweeted on Tuesday, adding that he was doing well and that others who flew with him were in quarantine.
Poland also banned mass events and expanded existing health checks on the German and Czech borders to also cover Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania.
Travellers arriving by road, rail or ferry will have their temperature taken and their details will be collected in case they need to be contacted.
Most of the COVID-19 cases in Poland have developed in people returning from Germany.
Universities across the country also announced the full or partial suspension of classes for at least two weeks.
Poland’s PZPN national football association also announced that fans will be banned from two friendly matches scheduled later this month with Finland and Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the Czech Republic said it would close all schools, while neighbouring Slovakia suspended church services.
A medical official with protective gear takes the body temperature of a passenger, who arrived on a flight from New York City, as a preventive measure against the coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kiev, Ukraine yesterday
Poland also confirmed it would be cancelling mass events to stem the coronavirus’s deadly spread.
‘It is better to be proactive, rather than to deal with the problem later, or even too late as is the case in Italy,’ Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters yesterday.
Elementary and secondary schools and universities will be closed from Wednesday until further notice, Babis said yesterday.
The Czech government also imposed a ban on all events with more than 100 people in the EU country of 10.7 million people as of Tuesday evening, closing museums and galleries as well as cinemas and theatres.
Prague reported an increase the country’s number of coronavirus cases to 58 from 40 over Tuesday, while its larger northern neighbour Poland, which has a population of 38 million, put its tally at 21.
Czech Health Minister Adam Vojtech tweeted that foreigners entering the country, including ‘ordinary tourists’, would be tested and may end up in quarantine.
In Slovakia, outgoing Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said Catholic bishops have called off church services until March 23 in the devout country.
With seven confirmed cases, Slovakia has banned mass gatherings for two weeks and ordered all Slovaks returning from coronavirus hotspots China, South Korea, Iran and Italy to remain in home quarantine for 14 days.
All schools, universities, kindergartens remain closed this week in the capital Bratislava.