There is no sign of panic in the Republic — Denis Pushilin

Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin told Ukraina.ru that the Republic is fighting not only coronavirus, but also Ukrainian disinformation that allegedly there were hundreds of cases already in the Donetsk People’s Republic and that Russia is taking Donetsk doctors to its territory and bringing back those who are sick with coronavirus, the press service of the DPR Head’s Administration reports.

“As of April 10, 18 cases have been registered, half of them are family members and acquaintances of patients who tested positive on April 3 and 7. Nevertheless, there is no sign of panic in the Republic.

The likelihood of strengthening the high alert regime, which was introduced in the Donetsk People’s Republic, primarily depends on the rise rate of the number of people infected and on how specialists from relevant agencies will asses the danger.

We have formed an interdepartmental operational headquarters to prevent the importation and spread of the coronavirus infection, it is working out all necessary measures and recommendations.

We have introduced remote education for schoolchildren and students, a mandatory period of self-isolation for people aged 65 and older, and forbid cultural, sports and other large-scale events.

We every day crosscheck the threat to the health of our people due to the spread of the coronavirus infection against the point of no-return for business due to the restrictions imposed. We have managed to maintain the balance so far.

Neither the state budget nor the budget of the overwhelming majority of families in the Republic have financial reserves to last out at least one month of isolation. We proceed from this when introducing preventative measures.

We have considered all options, but we are doing our best so as not to take extreme measures,” Denis Pushilin said.

The leader also told about how the Republic is coping with the lack of sanitary-and-hygienic supplies.

“We are lacking medical masks, like the whole world now. The value of service exceeded the usual need dozens of times, few people were ready for it. Nevertheless, since the first cases of coronavirus were registered in the Republic, we have managed to ramp up the production of personal protective gear.

The situation with antiviral agent for external application is much better. In this area, we have two manufacturers, and today disinfectants, antiseptics and professional detergents are produced in the necessary quantities,” Denis Pushilin noted.

During the conversation with the correspondent, the Head of the DPR disproved the information about the lack of food products.

“We had a certain rush, but it has not come down to empty shelves. We are taking measures to make a two-month stock of goods of prime necessity, as well as monitoring their stock count at trade enterprises. We also monitor prices.

In general, food security is under control, we will not allow a shortage of essential goods,” the Head of State assured.

They also discussed the information war and Ukrainian fakes.

“We have long been used to the information war. Every day, throughout the duration of the conflict, the Ukrainian side has been disseminating on social networks various fakes about life in the Republic, far from one or two fakes a day. But even we, who had seen it all before, were surprised by the abnormal outburst of twisted disinformation, which poured in our direction after the new coronavirus infection had invaded the lives of people all over the planet.

The basic thesis of the enemy is that the DPR authorities allegedly blind the true state of affairs.

There is only one weapon against this, which is the truth. That is what we are doing by widely informing about everything that is happening in the Republic due to the coronavirus.

Moreover, our people have learned how to smoke out fakes, actively disprove and make fun of them. So we decontaminate the enemy’s disinformation by laughter as well,” Denis Pushilin stressed.