Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko comments on situation with coronavirus

An archive photo

MINSK, 16 March (BelTA) – When announcing new appointments Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko urged local government officials to keep their head cool over coronavirus and build their work accordingly, BelTA has learned.

“Challenges are many. You see that the world has gone crazy over coronavirus or maybe over the speculations related to coronavirus. But for us it is not the main and most terrible thing. We have survived viruses before. There were more complicated viruses: swine flue, bird flue, and atypical pneumonia. They ranted about how it all started blaming mass media for being too particular and for covering the problem in the wrong way. Probably, this time they will blame the media too, in a month or two. Although they deserve some criticism,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the president, Belarus adequately responds to threats. Doctors have been taking targeted measures for a long time, and Belarusians themselves generally respond adequately to the situation, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “Belarusians are doing it right. Except for one thing: Please, do not run around pharmacies buying masks, uniforms or some medicines,” the head of state said.

After the demand for face masks in the country has skyrocketed, domestic enterprises have been ramping up their production. The president said that the prime minister updated him about the situation in Belarus yesterday. It turned out that now there is nowhere to sell them. “We have made more of them and now have problems with sale. The light industry wants to be paid for making masks. The healthcare service says that they do not need that much. We have nowhere to sell. However, I told him to look around: Germany is lacking uniforms, masks. We need to sell them if there is a demand for them,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

In his words, apart from Minsk and big cities, the situation with the coronavirus is not such a big problem for regions and regional centers. “The biggest (responsibility, not problem) for us is the economy. Unfortunately, all these steps undertaken amid the coronavirus outbreak affect the economy a lot. You see, even Russia has closed the border with Belarus,” the head of state said.

He went on saying that the situation in Belarus is relatively calm, while “Russia is all on fire because of the coronavirus”. “Who must close the borders? The question is rhetoric,” the president said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko called upon the local authorities to keep calm and remind the people of the precautionary measures.

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