Individuals, businesses and NGOs in Belarus have launched numerous initiatives to help combat the coronavirus outbreak in the country, in response to the government’s hesitation to admit the severity of the pandemic.
Earlier this week, the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, dismissed the coronavirus as a ‘‘psychosis’’, declaring that ‘‘no one will die’’ from the disease in Belarus.
Meanwhile, a number of local initiatives have emerged in an attempt to secure financial, technical, and information support to the Belarusians amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A crowdfunding platform, named #bycovid19, has been established in the country by a group of organisations and individuals to collect and distribute protective equipment to health professionals and other frontline workers fighting the coronavirus.
The team of #bycovid19 volunteers has so far raised more than €110,000 and distributed 27,000 respirators, as well as protective clothing and medical equipment.
“The toughest situation is with respirators,” said Andrej Stryzhak, co-founder of the platform, adding that, based on the official government numbers, the supplies distributed by the #bycovid19 team make up a considerable part of the total.
‘‘We’re going to keep working until we see the government has taken the situation under real control and that medical personnel have the equipment they need to do their job without fear,’’ he said.
Molamolam, another crowdfunding platform, has achieved to collect nearly €60,000 while private businesses have invested in the campaign by supplying washing machines, medical shoes, as well as hygiene and food products to the hospitals.
Furthermore, a telephone hotline that has been set up by the NGO Imena and Belarus Red Cross to provide psychological assistance to self-isolated elderly people is another initiative among the dozens of local campaigns that have sprung in the country to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
‘‘It’s really important for us to move quickly right now, because the disease is spreading in Belarus with unbelievable speed,’’ said Katerina Sinyuk, the head of Imena, adding that ‘‘there’s a sense for the first time that everyone is working toward the same goal.’’
As of April 17, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Belarus stands at 4,779, with 42 recorded deaths.
On April 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged the Belarusian authorities to impose new measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, expressing concern that the country has entered a worrying new phase.
The WHO said that while containment measures to detect coronavirus infections had been implemented, Belarus should “introduce community-wide measures to increase physical distancing”, and cancel large-scale events, such as the national football league which continues despite the virus outbreak.
