Belarus president justifies national strategy on fighting COVID-19

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I think God will help overcome these trials and tribulations all over the country.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned the contribution the Belarusians had made to protecting themselves and to fighting the virus. The president is convinced the country had chosen the right strategy to fight the spread of the infection. “Many are already crying about the second wave in autumn. I think it is our way to overcome not only the current heavy wave, but the second one that will come after this one, god forbid. More and more people are resuming their normal lives despite this virus,” the Belarusian leader said.

“We've chosen our own way. Today I am convinced we did the right thing. We didn't declare a state of emergency,” the head of state stressed.

Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke in positive terms about the speech by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin the day before: “He said: why does anyone blame Moscow residents for having so many virus cases? It is only right, we should praise Moscow residents, Russians, and other countries for it where many tests are carried out. The more tests are done, the more cases are detected.”

Yet the president stressed that saving people's lives is the most important matter, not the number of tests. “Everyone will forget coronavirus statistics, how many cases we've detected. Everyone will remember how many people have died. This is why we focus on saving lives. And Belarus boasts the lowest death rate with this number of detected cases,” he said. “We should fight for every person and we know how to do it”.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, it is important to pay attention to treating seriously ill patients, who are connected to artificial lungs, and Belarus has a sufficient amount of this equipment.

“The number of patients admitted to hospitals and the number of patients released from hospitals are also very important. Let me quote Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin once again. He stated yesterday that for the first time ever the number of people discharged from hospitals in Moscow was higher than the number of people admitted to hospitals. It is a good signal. Keeping up this level is important. Then they won't need additional hospital beds deployed in sport facilities and [the national expo center] VDNKh. If we continue following the strategy, we will surely forget about the coronavirus in a month. Take good care of yourself, your families and friends. It's better to be safe than sorry,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

The head of state also noted he talked to the presidents of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan over the phone on 8 May. He noted: “All of them wished the best regards to our nation. I was pleased to hear they use our experience and practices because they contracted the disease later than we did.”