Belarus is not going to sweep the WHO recommendations under the carpet, but circumstances should be taken into account, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at Thursday’s government conference on economy issues and the epidemiological situation.
According to Lukashenka, he got a letter from letter from the director general of the World Health Organisation. Although the Belarusian leader admitted that the advice by the WHO should be studied in detail, he stressed the country would run its own course.
“But what if they, let’s say, recommend us to impose some measures up to the curfew? I emphasize once again: if such a need arises we will impose the curfew, isolate cities, towns and villages. But is the country facing such a problem today? No. Therefore, we will not shrug off the the recommendations, but we must act accordingly, based on a set of recommendations, our experience,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes him.
It should be noted that the WHO has never urged the authorities to place the country under curfew. Its experts concluded at the end of its assessment of the country’s response to the pandemic that Belarus needs to introduce community-wide steps to increase physical distancing, e.g. postponing large gatherings, placing in quarantine contacts of confirmed patients, introducing options for teleworking, and distance learning for educational institutions, etc.
As of April 22, there have been 7,281 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Belarus (+558 over the day before); 58 patients have died. However, the Belarusian authorities have not introduced any tough quarantine measures yet. The head of state believes that imposing a nationwide lockdown would not improve the situation in Belarus. In his opinion, such steps might deal a crippling blow to the daily life of Belarusians.
