The situation around coronavirus is changing greatly each day (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/). More deaths are predicted to follow, but at the same time the number of those who have recovered is growing too. The virus can spread before symptoms appear, which means it will be more difficult to limit transmission between people.
There are confirmed cases of the virus across Asia, and in the US, Australia and Europe. So far, all cases outside China seem to be in people who have travelled from Hubei province, where the outbreak began, or the surrounding area. Despite this fact a growing number of countries around the world are evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and ordinary citizens from all parts of China. This list of countries include, but not limited to: Taiwan, Australia, USA, France, New Zealand, Ukraine and so on.
On February 20, a Ukrainian plane arrived in Ukrainian capital. It provoked a tense clashes between ordinary citizens and police. A small town in central Ukraine turned into a hot spot for several hours on February 20 as protesters-local residents clashed with the police and blocked roads to prevent evacuees from China from arriving at a local medical center for a two-week quarantine. Protesters barricaded the road to a sanitarium intended to host the evacuees, fearing that they could become infected.
Many high officials arrived to the place, trying to calm down the crowd and to persuade them that all is under the control. The Ukrainian authorities state all passengers on board had been screened twice for the virus before being allowed to fly, but that was not enough to pacify the protesters.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also weighed in, saying the protests showed “not the best side of our character”. In a statement on his Facebook page, Zelenskiy said the authorities had done everything possible to make sure the virus would not spread to Ukraine.
In the end the situation calmed dawn and the vehicles were finally allowed to enter the designated place of quarantine. The masked evacuees, peeked through shattered bus windows as they drove slowly under heavy police escort.
Ukrainian media has been covering the situation closely, providing the live broadcast.
What is horrifying in this situation is its covering by Russian media instigating the blowing up of the situation around this hot point matter. While Western media present the developments simply describing the sequence of events, understanding that ordinary citizens may be simply scared, suffering from uninformedness about the real situation and fatigue of the continuing war in the East Ukraine, Russian media has seized the moment to ignite the clashes and to present Ukraine in non-favorable light.
For example Russian “Vzgliad” presents “terrible” situation unfolding in Ukraine (https://vz.ru/world/2020/2/20/1024785.html) and describes the simple lack of information at ordinary Ukrainians and sometimes lack of organization at local officials as manifestation and proof of medieval anachronism.
Quite predictably, it made a great conclusion in the end: “Finally, this situation is the best illustration for the statements of the authorities about the residents of Donbass and the Crimea: how they are being waited here and being craved. Less than fifty Ukrainians are being kicked on the map of Ukraine: “Let them go there! They were refused there. Then let them go there! Well, the tires there are being already burnt… ”
The long and the short of it is the well-known proverb: war is when one fights to the last ditch and another gets rich. Russian media is well-known for double approach, manipulations and even provocations.
