More than 2 million take part in Belarus day of labour — despite rising virus cases

More than 2 million Belarusians, including doctors and nurses, took part in a government-decreed national day of civic labour yesterday, despite worries about the country’s sharply rising coronavirus infections.

The work, including painting, treeplanting and general clean-ups, was ordered by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has dismissed concerns about the virus even though

Belarus has recorded more cases than neighbouring Ukraine, a country with four times as many people.

Lukashenko, a former collective farm manager, has retained many Soviet-era practices during his quarter-century in power, including the day of civic labour — known as a “subbotnik” from the Russian word for Saturday.

“Subbotnik is the good that we took from the Soviet period, that’s the whole ideology,” Lukashenko said as he helped plant trees in southern Belarus.

The Belarusian government has not imposed social-distancing requirements or restricted public activities in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of the hundreds of people working along with the president, none was seen wearing masks. The Government said yesterday 2.3 million people took part, about a quarter of the country’s population.

The subbotnik order called for participation by all state employees — although doctors and nurses were given the option of forfeiting some of their wages.

Nurse Nina Yegorova chose to work. “No one protests, although everyone understands the absurdity of this situation,” Yegorova said while she and her colleagues painted buildings at a hospital near Minsk, Belarus’ capital.

“After mass prayers in the churches on Easter, we got an outbreak of the virus.

“Now there will be another wave, although there are already not enough beds in the hospital.”