Belarus Asked Russia for Help in the Fight against Coronavirus

Belarus asked for help from Russia in the fight against the spread of coronavirus. This was reported by the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources in Russian government agencies. According to the paper’s informants, Minsk asked Moscow to allocate medical masks, test systems and mechanical ventilation devices. One of the sources expressed hope that the Belarusian authorities will begin to take a more responsible approach to combating the spread of the virus. “We defend ourselves from them. But this problem must be solved jointly, because if one country has epidemic decline, and another becomes a hotbed, then the threat will maintain,” he explained. It was also reported that almost all CIS countries, with the exception of Ukraine and Turkmenistan, addressed Russia with similar requests for assistance. “Information is accumulated and transmitted to the headquarters, where a decision is made on whom and what to allocate,” the Kommersant’s source told. On Tuesday, March 31, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said he did not understand those who called for strict quarantine measures because of the coronavirus. According to him, there are many other diseases in the country, which need to be treated, however everyone in Belarus has concentrated only on the coronavirus. On the same day, a doctor at a Vitebsk hospital, on condition of anonymity, spoke about hiding real statistics on infected and dead patients from coronavirus. “In intensive care department people die from pneumonia, but we are not always allowed to label deceased patients with the diagnosis of pneumonia. At the administrative level they say, “No and that’s it, codify it differently, so as not to spoil the statistics,” the doctor said. According to the latest data, 152 people were infected with coronavirus in Belarus, one died.