Commission for Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergencies at its special meeting on September 3, touched upon the issue regarding a mass pilgrimage of Hasidic pilgrims to Uman, Cherkasy region to celebrate Rosh Hashanah.

Following the meeting, the Cherkasy Regional State Administration together with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, the State Emergency Service, the State Food and Consumer Service and the National Guard were instructed to ban for the period from 15 to 21 September 2020 in the area of pilgrimage:

• holding mass cultural events, including religious and cultural, with the participation of more than one person per 10 square meters of the area of the building or territory (if the event is held outdoors), where the event is held;
• activities of public catering establishments with the organization of leisure (restaurants, cafes, bars, snack bars, canteens, cafeterias, etc.) and work after 24 and up to 7 o'clock of business entities which provide catering services without the organization of leisure (restaurants, cafes, bars, snack bars, canteens, cafeterias, cafeterias, etc.), in addition to activities for the provision of catering services with the implementation of targeted delivery of orders and takeaway orders;
• concerts, discos, entertainment (nightclubs);
• spontaneous trade, trading ofnon-food products directly in the halls of shops, except for trade through the window;
• students visiting of educational institutions located in the area of the pilgrimage.

It was also instructed

•  limit the area of pilgrimage for visitors by establishing appropriate quarantine checkpoints in order to comply with existing restrictions on the possibility of a certain number of people in one area;
• create an operational headquarters for the safe celebration of Rosh Hashanah in Uman with the involvement of law enforcement agencies, medical services, local governments, representatives of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine and NGOs, ensure its daily meetings to address operational issues;
•  establish the boundaries of the pilgrimage area;
•  to create a hotline at the Cherkasy Regional State Administration to receive citizens' complaints about violations of anti-epidemic rules and other problematic issues that arise in the area of pilgrimage;
• to resolve the issue of establishing a sufficient number of quarantine checkpoints at the entrance to the city of Uman and near places of pilgrimage, to ensure the work of police, servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine, State Emergency Service and medical staff, provide them with appropriate medical protection and organize conducting temperature screening of citizens at quarantine checkpoints;
• organize the installation of additional markings in the area of the pilgrimage and at the main objects for citizens to observe the social distance, as well as additional road signs;
• establish a separate infrastructure object which can be  used as an observation place in the event of a sudden outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus among pilgrims;
• establish a separate infrastructure facility which can be used as an observation place in the event of a sudden outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus among law enforcement officials who will maintain law and order and provide medical care in the pilgrimage area;
•  together with the Kirovohrad Regional State Administration to ensure the readiness of emergency medical care in the area of pilgrimage and to work out the routes of patients, including in the elimination of medical consequences of emergencies;
•  together with local governments and event organizers, ensure the deployment of medical facilities near pilgrimage sites and provide local hospitals with medicines and medical devices for the diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus cases; determine the order of food delivery in the area of pilgrimage and waste removal, including from potential infrastructure facilities that will be identified as observation places; organize proper disinfection of places of pilgrimage, religious buildings, as well as places of food and residence;
•  to ensure a broad explanatory work with the involvement of pilgrimage organizers on the observance of anti-epidemic measures by placing information banners in English and Hebrew at the places of pilgrimage;
• organize the calculation of the area of the main objects that will be visited by pilgrims in order to determine the number of citizens who can be at the same time near the places of pilgrimage, in accordance with the quarantine restrictions;
• plan with the use of the required number of turnstiles the order of passage of pilgrims to religious buildings by dividing into two parts for entry and exit and provide for temperature screening;
• to ensure control over compliance with anti-epidemic restrictions set by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of July 22, 2020 № 641 "On the introduction of quarantine and the stepping up anti-epidemic measures in the area with a significant spread of acute respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by coronavirus SARS -CoV-2", which are determined by the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine.

Cherkasy Regional State Administration, ministries and departments must inform the Cabinet of Ministers about the results of the work by September 23

Moreover, Commission for Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergencies commissioned  the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Ministry of Health and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine to determine the number of health workers and other volunteers to be involved from Israel to help celebrate Rosh Hashanah in Uman, Cherkasy region.