Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko comments on US Congress report on COVID-19 pandemic

BORISOV, 10 December (BelTA) – During his visit to the POZHSNAB company in Borisov on 10 December, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko commented on the US Congress report on the causes of and response to the coronavirus pandemic, BelTA has learned.

The US Congress Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a report “After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lessons Learned and a Path Forward” following a two-year investigation into the matter.

The authors of the report concluded that mask mandates were unnecessary, and prolonged lockdowns caused significant damage to the global economy, provoked staggering inflation and unemployment. Moreover, scientists believe that the methods of combating the COVID-19 infection were politically motivated.

In this regard, the company's employees noted that the outcomes of the investigation effectively confirmed that the Belarusian president chose the right strategy to combat the pandemic. They asked the head of state whether he was pleased that the correctness of his COVID response strategy was admitted.

“Pleased, unpleased... There are no such concepts in politics. But personally, when I read about it for the first time, I said to someone from my inner circle: you see? I didn't ask any more questions: are you finally convinced? I am happy when you are happy, when you say: ‘Batka has done a great job!’ That’s true,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

At the same time, the president noted that not everyone supported his position back then: “They took issue with it, they did not really believe me. As far as your team is concerned, back then around 80%, maybe a little less agreed that we should go this way. Why? Because they were brainwashed. No one opted for this way except for our state.”

The president recalled that when the first case of coronavirus was detected in Belarus (it was a student from Iran), a decision was made to put the entire university where he studied on quarantine. However, Aleksandr Lukashenko did not support this decision.

“I call the minister (I remember it as if it was yesterday) and ask: ‘Who gave you the right to close an enterprise, an organization?’ He is standing still in front of me. I say: ‘I have canceled the decision, your task is to treat and save people. It is up to me to open and close facilities. Now you can go.’ The conversation was brief. And I had to make everyone toe the line. The prime minister says: ‘Everyone should work remotely.’ What are you talking about? If POZHSNAB had halted operations (even though you are a monopolist on the global market), it is unlikely that you would have been talking to me today. Maybe you would have survived (you are a monopolist after all), but you would have fallen behind, or maybe gone under. All our enterprises would certainly have shut down by now,” the president remarked.

According to him, had Belarusian machine-building enterprises put operations on hold during the pandemic, they would have been ousted from their markets by foreign competitors. Hundreds of millions of dollars would have been needed to get back on feet and get things going.

“I got a feeling that someone wanted to take advantage of it. And I always told people that this was ‘schizophrenia’ [panic during COVID-19]. I even started joking: in order to recover (I visited peasants - they were all working), you need a tractor and a hundred grams. We have held out. Today, the Americans, who were constantly trolling me, have admitted it. They said the same things that I said,” the head of state noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that this whole situation should teach everyone a lesson. “We should take good care of our health. This is a lesson from the pandemic. I don't have much to brag about, because people were dying. I frequently visited intensive care wards: the most common underlying condition was diabetes, as well as cardiovascular diseases. Where does this come from? From our laziness. That's why I'm pushing you to go out and spend time outdoors; if you can't run - walk, if you can't walk - run. You need to take care of yourselves, so you will not have to go to the pharmacy and worry about your health,” the president said.

“We were right. And in this regard, I'm glad that you finally realized that Batka made the right decision back then,” the president concluded.

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