COVID-19 pandemic in the Luhansk People's Republic

Not to be confused with COVID-19 pandemic in Luhansk Oblast.

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), a disputed Russian republic in eastern Ukraine,^[a] in March 2020. For the rest of Ukraine, see COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine.

COVID-19 pandemic in the Luhansk People's Republic
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	Luhansk People's Republic
Arrival date	30 March 2020 (5 years, 4 months, 1 week and 6 days)

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.^[1][2]

The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003,^[3][4] but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.^[5][3]

Timeline

April 2020

In April, Ukrainian officials estimated more than 400 cases in the occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, and cast doubt on announcements by the LPR and DPR.^[6]

See also

• COVID-19 pandemic in the Donetsk People's Republic

Notes

1. The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) was established by Russian-backed separatists in the Luhansk Oblast of eastern Ukraine in 2014, during the war in Donbas. The disputed entity was annexed by Russia in 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia regards the LPR as a Russian republic, a claim that is unrecognised by Ukraine and by most of the international community.