Omicron reaches Kharkiv region as presidential adviser resigns
A look back at two developments reported on 17 January 2022, one in public health and one in the presidential administration.
What did 17 January 2022 show about the pressures on Ukraine's regions and its central government? Two separate developments were reported that day.
In Kharkiv region, the first cases of the Omicron strain of coronavirus were recorded. Omicron had previously been confirmed in Kyiv and Odesa, so the strain was now detected in a third part of the country, and regional health authorities faced it beyond the capital and the Black Sea port.
The same day, Oleksii Arestovych left his post as an unpaid adviser to the head of the Office of the President, where he had also served as spokesman for the Ukrainian delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group. He cited personal reasons for leaving.
The two reports were unrelated. Together they marked the day: the spread of a new coronavirus variant across Ukrainian regions, and the departure of a figure who had spoken for Ukraine's delegation in the Contact Group.
