Belarus will become the first in Europe in the number of detected coronavirus infections per capita by the beginning of July if the current dynamics continue. In terms of the total number of detected cases, it will take seventh place. Moreover, only countries with a disproportionately large population will be ahead.
Andrey Eliseev, an analyst at the Eurasian States in Transition research center, wrote about this on his Facebook, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“And we operate with official statistics, realizing that the number of identified cases of infection is underestimated by all sorts of methods. Massive informal reports about how people with obvious symptoms are being refused tests so as not to spoil the statistics are confirmation of this,” Eliseev wrote.
According to him, many Belarusians believed the words of their President Alexander Lukashenko that the virus was not dangerous and did not wear masks.
“Not everyone knows what is happening at the local hospital. Moreover, what is happening in hospitals and the current statistics from there are now actually classified as state secrets... The data is kept silent, strongly dissatisfied doctors are repressed, and purely Soviet reports are broadcast on state television channels. The situation is moving in a very bad and harmful direction for public health,” the expert warns.
Let us remember that the day before Alexander Lukashenko said that the World Bank is ready to pay Belarus $300 million to adopt its unique method of combating the pandemic. The head of the Belarusian office of the World Bank, Alex Kremer, confirmed the allocation of funding, but at the same time emphasized that Belarus must comply with WHO recommendations.