COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus

[3] 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, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.

"[37] In his further comments on the pandemic, the Belarusian leader referred to it as "psychosis", and on 28 March he played a game of hockey, later stating in an interview "it is better to die on our feet, than live on your knees [...] sport, especially on ice, is better than any antiviral medication, it is the real thing".

[42] That, as well as the gradual decrease in transparency of the official reports on the pandemic, led to criticism from the press and population, emphasizing the absence of up-to-date information about the territories affected by the virus, decreased update frequency and increased ambiguity of the official reports, as well as restraint of the non-governmental media from the government sessions on the epidemiological situation in the country.

[45] On 9 April, a mandatory 14-day self-isolation requirement was issued by the government for foreign and Belarusian citizens with either confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, or the status of first- or second-level contact.

[48] According to the Deputy Minister of Defense of Belarus, Sergei Potapenko, as of 11 April, preparations for the 9 May Victory Day Parade were continuing as planned: "As of now, everything is normal, a complex of antiepidemiologic and therapeutic measures is taking place, which assures the health of soldiers is on due level.

[50] On 21 April, during his visit to the "Slavyanka" clothing factory re-purposed for the production of medical masks, Alexander Lukashenko criticized the protective measures taken in schools: "Utter nonsense.

Lukashenko also noted that, despite the absence of nation-wide restrictions, Belarusians had shown care for their health during the past May holidays: "[People] kind of spread-out.

During his speech as the commander-in-chief, Alexander Lukashenko emphasized the importance of the Victory Day to Belarusians and addressed the critics of the parade: "In this mad disoriented world, there are people who are blaming us for the circumstances we are hosting this sacred event in.

[69] On 10 September, Uzbekistan was excluded from the list, and the exclusions of Spain, Montenegro, Israel, Andorra and Malta were reverted due to increasing numbers of new infections.

[71] According to the 16 July remarks by the Belarusian culture minister, Yuri Bondar, despite organizational problems, no programme shortening was planned for the 2020 Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk.

[74] In a 5 August interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, Lukashenko stated the circumstances of his infection were investigated, and that he was leaning towards the version of deliberate contagion.

According to Dmitry Pinevich, the Acting Minister of Health, the reduction was based on experience of Belarusian medics showing that usually the virus "reveals itself" no longer than 7 days after contagion.

[79] On 1 November, Belarusian borders were closed for foreign citizens, with the exception of diplomats, persons entering Belarus through the Minsk National Airport, Russian citizens transiting Belarus on their way to Russia and a number of other categories of people related to transportation of goods, mail, organ transplants, functioning of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

[89] On 26 February, the first test batch of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine was locally produced by the Belmedpreparaty Belarusian pharmaceutical company via technology provided by Russia.

[94] On 1 July, a presidential decree permitting visa-free entry and stay in Belarus for up to 5 days for foreign individuals willing to get vaccinated in the country on a paid basis was signed by Alexander Lukashenko.

[102] According to Deutsche Welle, that was potentially intended to act as a countermeasure to the Belarusian opposition's flash mob asking people to wear masks in public places as a part of the anti-Lukashanko protests.

[103] The following crackdown on facial masks usage involved widespread removal of social advertisement promoting employment of self-protection equipment in public transport, stores and cafes.

[123] According to the 22 July 2020 remark by Lidia Yermoshina (with reference to the Ministry of Health data), as of date, around 41,000 people were either hospitalized or undergoing ambulatory COVID-19 treatment, or were in the status of first-level contact, contrary to the official statistics pointing to a total of 6,947 active cases.

My suggestion, and I have certain facts supporting it, [...] is that the arteriosclerotic heart disease diagnosis [was written in a death certificate], with no regards to a patient dying from respiratory failure caused by the COVID-19 infection".

[132] On March 24, 2021, Alyaksei Znatkevich of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty published an article based on a survey of several doctors, which provided evidence of falsification of statistics up to 7 times.

[137] Dmitry Kobak of the University of Tübingen and Andrei Eliseev of the EAST Center, who were approached by Current Time TV, confirmed the high probability of underreporting the excess COVID-19 death toll in the figures by about the same proportion, while both ministries have ignored the channel's requests to comment on the information.

[138] On 30 April 2020, the head physician of the Vitebsk Clinical Emergency Hospital, Sergey Lazar, was relieved of his position shortly after the publication of his interview with TUT.BY, where he criticized the counter-pandemic measures taken by the government and mentioned the shortage of medical protective equipment.

[140] On 25 March 2020, Sergei Satsuk, the chief editor of the Yezhednevhik online newspaper, was arrested on a charge of bribe-taking, three days after the publication of his article with critique of the Belarusian government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[146] On 30 March 2020, Belarus and International Monetary Fund (IMF) started negotiations on a $900 million loan intended to compensate the economic losses from the COVID-19 pandemic.

[151][152] Economists James Reade, Dominik Schreyer, and Carl Singleton observe that stadium attendance demand in Belarus declined significantly in the initial period of maximum uncertainty.

[153] On 10 April 2020, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a $1.3 million financial aid for Belarus to help counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

[157] On 11 April 2020, during a press-conference concluding a three-day WHO inspection, the leader of the WHO mission in Belarus, Patrick O'Connor, noted the "systematic approach", presence of the testing laboratories, patient segregation (as a means of stopping the spread of the infection in hospitals) and the quickly organized domestic production of the protective equipment for medics as positives of the Belarusian response to the pandemic.

The WHO recommendations included physical distancing (cancelling of the sports and cultural events, implementation of remote education and minimization of the nonessential movements for the high-risk groups of people), improvements of the testing process and isolation of the first- and second-level contacts.

[158] On 21 April 2020, a new set of recommendations for Belarus was published by the WHO, which included increase in social distancing, quarantining of the contacts of the confirmed COVID-19 patients, implementation of the remote education for schools and universities, reducing nonessential movements for the high-risk groups of people, repurposing of the private and public sector for the production of protective equipment for health-care workers, government commitment to implement the containing and mitigation measures, clear, transparent and regular communication of the risks, health advice and response measures by the government and continuation of the socioeconomic support for the vulnerable groups of people.

[160] On that same day, in a WHO report, the current epidemiological situation in Belarus was labeled as "concerning" and requiring "the immediate implementation of a comprehensive blended strategy", involving a variety of physical distancing measures, as well as expansion of testing capacity, improvements in QA for the locally produced COVID-19 test kits and implementation of standardized screening procedures at international entry points.