The Buzz | Weather and protests hamper Ukraine quarantine efforts

Ukraine’s effort to evacuate more than 70 people from China over the outbreak of a new virus faced setbacks yesterday as weather conditions delayed the return of the evacuees and protests broke out near a hospital where they were to be quarantined.
Several hundred residents in Ukraine’s Poltava region protested seeking to stop officials from quarantining the evacuees in their village because they feared becoming infected.
Demonstrators put up road blocks and burned tires, while Ukrainian media reported that there were clashes with police. More than 10 people were detained, and Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov personally visited the site of the protests to calm the crowd down.
Avakov urged the protesters “not to fall for provocations and be understanding of the necessity for these temporary measures.”
“The situation is rather heated,” a police spokesman said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy tried to reassure people that the quarantined evacuees wouldn’t pose any danger to residents of the village of Novi Sarzhany.