On December 15, Alyaksandr Lukashenka made a working trip to Mahiliou, where he visited the regional clinical hospital and looked at how patients with coronavirus are being treated.
In the hospital, Lukashenka visited several units where patients with COVID-19 are being treated, talked with doctors working in the “red zone”. Then he met with the staff and asked which of the doctors had had the coronavirus. Among other things, Lukashenka stated that he wants to preserve the sovereignty of Belarus.
“I want you to understand my position, it is unchanging: let’s live together in peace, save the country (and we will save it, no matter what it costs us, not for me, and not for him – this is already for the grandchildren). And this is my main task. You will decide everything. I promise you: you will decide everything,” he stressed.
Lukashenka also told the doctors that he did not seek to retain power at any cost, however, he was not going to surrender the country with folded hands.
“I’m runing nowhere, so that you know. Nowhere. It’s good that time has passed, and people saw who was eager to get power. It’s not about me. I often say: I’ve worked through my share. I’m sorry for what will happen after that,” he said.
Lukashenka also touched upon the topic of protest mood among doctors. He stated that there is no time for doctors to “hang out in the streets.”
“The doctor has no time to hang out in the streets. The doctor must treat people. Do you have any claims to the authorities — I came to you, express your claims. You are my voters, make your claims,” Lukashenka said talking to the doctors (quoted by zviazda.by).
Lukashenka recently stopped calling the coronavirus a psychosis. Now this is a priority topic for him. On December 14, Lukashenka visited the 4th City Clinical Hospital in Minsk: he advised not to keep patients in medical institutions for too long, if they are recovering. He also said that the Russian vaccine would be used to vaccinate Belarusians against COVID-19. It is possible that over time the country will launch production of its own medicine. According to Lukashenka, the creation of a Belarusian vaccine against coronavirus will require 5 million rubles.
Health Minister Dzmitry Pinevich said that Belarus has reached the peak of the pneumonia cases and will hold on for at least a month and a half. He also noted that the pandemic will not end tomorrow: the second wave will begin to subside only by summer.
