86 novel coronavirus cases have been officially confirmed in the country, Health Minister Uladzimir Karanik said during Wednesday’s livestream ‘Your question to Ministries of Health and Education about the COVID-19 situation in Belarus’.
According to him, another two cases are being re-checked, as the tests have shown questionable results. One such case was recorded in the town of Zhytkavichy.
“1,200 people are now under supervision in hospitals. These are the so-called first contact persons,” the minister informed.
In his opinion, such number of the isolated is not an extraordinary burden on the health system. But the advantages of the measures taken are ‘obvious’, he noted.
“41 persons of those ploaced under quarantine have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Thus, the spread of infection was stopped,” Uladzimir Karanik said.
There is a supply of medicines which will satisfy the needs of Belarusians, the ministry reports. Moreover, the country has more than 25 ventilators per 100,000 people, the top health official stressed.
As before, the Health Ministry is refraining from recommendations to impose quarantine measures on educational institutions due to ‘inexpedience’. PE lessons will not be canceled either; according to the Education Ministry, it is vital the youth go in for sports.
“Distance learning is not a very good experience, which was shown by the example of Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU). On spite of all the appeals, students massively dispersed across regions. About 1,000 students ignored the Health Ministry’s call not to leave Minsk and later we had to look for them at the places of residence,” Karanik said.
The ‘zero’ patient in Belarus was a student of the Belarusian National Technical University from Iran who had got infected while being in his native country. In late February, when the first coronavirus case was reported, the university was closed, but only for two weeks. Over 16,000 Belarusians have signed the petition to introduce e-learning in the country. But still, introducing quarantine measures does not seem to on the Belarusian government’s agenda at the moment.
On March 16, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka shared with the newly appointed officials his own ways of fighting infections, including the novel coronavirus. He advised going to a dry sauna, claiming that the virus dies at 60 degrees; more frequent handwashing, regular diet, and… drinking some vodka are also on his list. Later, he called the situation ‘psychosis and foolishness’.
