What did Ukraine's first days of quarantine and reform look like?
A look back at a stretch of mid-March 2020 in which restrictions on movement, a new schools law and a new Prosecutor General arrived together.
What did it mean for a country to change course on several fronts at once? On 19 March 2020, Ukraine was living through the days that followed exactly that kind of convergence.
On 17 March 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine gave its approval, and President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Iryna Venediktova as Prosecutor General. It was a change at the head of one of the country's key public institutions, made as the pace of events was quickening.
The next day, 18 March 2020, brought two developments of a very different character. The law "On Complete General Secondary Education" entered into force, a piece of legislation governing the country's schools. On the same date, measures aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus infection were introduced: rail, bus and air services across the country were suspended, the metro was set to close, and minibuses, trolleybuses and trams were to run with restrictions.
Taken together, these steps show how public life was being reorganised in a matter of days. A reform that had been prepared through the legislative process took effect at the same moment as emergency limits on how people could travel. A senior law-enforcement appointment was settled in the same window.
By 19 March 2020, then, the picture was one of institutions working on two tracks: continuing the business of lawmaking and appointments, while applying restrictions designed to slow the spread of the virus.
