There is no reason to fall into panic over the coronavirus threat, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka believes. On Thursday, he has heard out a report of Interior Minister Yury Karayeu.
“Some people have already started to write: ‘The president said that we had defeated coronavirus’. On no account. But I think that we should not succumb to panic. Responsible attitude to this problem is the key,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes Lukashenka.
The Belarusian leader commented the rumours about Karayeu’s allegedly catching COVID-19, saying that the ministed looked ‘alive and healthy’.
In turn, Yury Karayeu explained that his son had returned from China on the day when the spread of coronavirus had been announced in the country. According to him, there is no ground for anxiety as the son who has spent a month in Belarus feels fine.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka focused on a special role of the police in fighting against the outbreak of the novel coronavirus:
“We cannot do without police. You don’t need to put pressure on anybody. But you can give advice to people, especially elderly people, help them with shopping, if necessary, so that they could stay at home.”
Belarusian authorities are taking all necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus, he stressed.
“We respond even if there are the slightest suspicions. If a person comes from another country, we are testing them and other people they were in contact with in recent time. It was not done in Italy. Italy did not work at the first-second level. Only when a person fell ill, when they had severe symptoms, doctors began to treat them. Of course, the death rate is higher because of that,” Lukashenka added.
As of March 13, he number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 27 in Belarus.
