Belarus president ‘covering up’ epidemic
IN THE absence of an official Covid-19 death toll – at least one that anyone believes – the people of Belarus rely on an altogether more primitive source of information.
A street kiosk in the former Soviet republic’s fourth city, Vitebsk, bore a terse, medieval warning in red spray paint last week. ‘Vitebsk, 22 corpses. Stay home.’
Locals record similar updates on buildings in Vitebsk and in the capital Minsk, though they are painted over by the authorities.
The figures are given more credence than those released by the country’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, who insists the virus has claimed only four lives. He is the leader who beseeched Belarussians to stay healthy by drinking vodka and visiting saunas.
In the past few days in Belarus, a country of 9.5million people, the virus has left hospitals filled with victims. One overwhelmed, equipment-starved doctor claimed she was forced to ‘rewrite medical records’. Others say the health ministry has stopped recording new infections. As of Friday, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases was 350.
Meanwhile, Lukashenko, 65, pictured last year canoodling with a Miss World finalist 43 years his junior, carries on as normal.
Neighbouring Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nauseda said he cannot trust the official information coming from Belarus.
Lukashenko, who won his fifth term in 2015, has allowed shops, markets and restaurants to remain open. Last week, he moderated his language but was still refusing to entertain the idea of even partial restrictions.