Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The Belarusian national air carrier Belavia has extended the suspension of air travel to Tallinn until 31 December 2021, BelTA learned from the website of the airline.

Belavia will not fly to Larnaca till 14 December. The flights to Ashgabat will not be available until 1 January, to Riga – until 31 January 2021. Belavia will not operate flights to Budapest and Almaty till 27 March 2021.

The flights to all destinations in Russia (apart from Moscow's Domodedovo) are suspended until 24 December, as there is no permission yet from the Russian government.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule their flights till 30 March 2021. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers.

The situation with coronavirus in Belarus is not easy, but it is under control, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the meeting of the Vitebsk Oblast coronavirus response team on 4 December, BelTA informs.

“The situation in the world is very stressful, to say the least. And the situation is not easy in Belarus either. We often say that the situation is not easy but under control,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the president, he came to Vitebsk to see the real state of affairs in the healthcare industry at the local level. “People's treatment in general and coronavirus treatment in particular,” the head of state explained.

On local experience

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the wave of coronavirus started in Belarus from Vitebsk Oblast at the beginning of 2020. “The region has accumulated huge experience in the treatment of people,” the head of state said. For example, a decision to separate COVID-19 positive mothers from their healthy children until mothers recover was made at the Vitebsk Oblast maternity hospital during the first wave of coronavirus. This measure was taken to prevent the infection of children. Although the WHO recommends not to separate mothers from children in spite of the potential infection risk.

“We have accumulated our own experience of fighting against this evil,” the president said. “We have learned to treat people.”

Availability of equipment

According to the head of state, the next aspect is the availability of equipment. The availability of ventilators is being monitored. About of 500 ventilators from the total number of 2,500 are now used in Belarus. “We have enough ventilators. We will do our best to avoid the deficit of ventilators,” the Belarusian leader said.

Operation of regional response teams

Taking into account the experience from the first wave of coronavirus, regional coronavirus response teams proved effective. Therefore, a decision was made to resume their work. They should focus on the organization of treatment, the supply of PPE and medications. “When we have an opportunity to mobilize all tools and resources for the resolution of a certain issue, then we have the result. Who can organize it in Vitebsk Oblast? Of course, the governor and his administration can. Today he is in charge of these issues, especially of people's treatment, because the lives of our people are the priority,” the president said.

According to the president, the situation in Vitebsk Oblast is not disturbing. “The situation in the region is not critical, and should not be critical,” the Belarusian leader stressed. “Is Vitebsk Oblast in need of anything: doctors, personal protection equipment, other things? Tell us. In this room we will make any decision, even an impossible one. We want to work and will implement any decision.”

Reassuring statistics

The president mentioned a positive trend: the number of discharged patients is higher than the number of new hospitalizations with COVID-19. “Why is it reassuring? It means that our hospitals will not be overloaded, beds are available. Before that, the number of hospitalizations exceeded the number of discharged patients,” the head of state said.

However, according to the president, some critics say that patients are discharged too early. “Absolute nonsense! Doctors will never prescribe outpatient or recuperation treatment if they don't see any sustainable recovery dynamics,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. Moreover, some hospitals take additional precautions and prefer to observe patients for a few more days to make sure that everything is fine.

Apart from that, the head of state cited current statistics on coronavirus pneumonias. As of today, there are 21,500 patients with this disease. 519 patients are on ventilators. The total number of ventilators is 2,500. The president added that we should not pander to certain “professional” communities and focus on figures. Certain figures depend on the number of tests. The more tests are made, the more positive results exist. In his words, it is more important to provide comprehensive medical aid to patients and use all available resources to continue treatment.

Belarus registered 1,796 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours; another 1,310 coronavirus patients were discharged from hospital, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Healthcare Ministry.

The nationwide COVID-19 tally has reached 148,953 cases. A total of 126,084 patients previously diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered in Belarus.

As many as 1,215 COVID-19 patients suffering from a number of chronic diseases have died since the infection's outbreak in Belarus.

Belarus performed 3,449,089 tests, 18,574 – in the past 24 hours.

The Belarusian national air carrier Belavia has extended the suspension of air travel to Riga until 31 January 2021, BelTA learned from the website of the airline.

Belavia will fly to Tallinn and Larnaca till 14 December. The flights to Ashgabat will not be available till 1 January 2021. Belavia will not operate flights to Budapest and Almaty till 27 March 2021.

The flights to all destinations in Russia (apart from Moscow's Domodedovo) are suspended until 24 December as there is no permission yet from the Russian government.

Customers who purchased tickets for these travel dates will be able to apply for a refund or to reschedule their flights till 30 March 2021. Tickets can be refunded and flights can be rescheduled at company's offices and customer service centers.

The states should join efforts against pressure and outside interference, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council on 2 December, BelTA informs.

“Color revolutions which have been going on in a number of countries are not color revolutions at all. We can see it on Belarus' example,” the president said. “A revolution happens when there is a reason for a revolution (we have studied it), when the masses don't want anything, when the leaders can't do anything and so on, and when there are revolutionaries. Neither you nor us have revolutionaries today. All the so-called revolutionaries want to live well and, preferably, at somebody else's expense. When you start using their language to talk to them, the so-called revolutionaries quickly turn into exiled politicians. Therefore, they have never had any good intentions.”

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, outside interference has been a reason for the escalation of the situation in Belarus. “The case is that, I am quoting here, ‘the Belarusian lands historically belonged to Poland'. This is being said in an open regime. Can I, as president, and the Belarusian people agree with that? They say that the place where we are living in does not belong to us. It is clear to whom they belong. And they are acting accordingly,” the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the NATO is setting up a military group for the penetration of western Belarusian lands. “Tell me, how we should respond to that,” he said.

Apart from that, the president recalled old plans of western countries to create a sanitary belt between the EU and Russia. “These are the goals that they failed to achieve after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the mid-1990s. The president of Russia and I understand it very well. The events in Belarus (they are openly saying that) are a trampoline for putting pressure on the Russian Federation,” the head of state stressed. “I want to say in a friendly way: if someone thinks that Belarus is far away…Some time ago we were not thinking about it either. Even the events in Ukraine – we were thinking that it was going on somewhere else. Before you know it, something like that will happen in your countries.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that the CSTO countries should join efforts against external threats using the Belarusian experience among other things. “Everybody have said that, now we need to be together more than ever,” he said.

According to the president, economic cooperation is the foundation of unity. “If we work together in the economy, and it was our goal in the Eurasian Economic Union, we will survive. If we don't, they will swallow us,” the Belarusian leader concluded.

On December 1, Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on awarding honorary titles and an order on announcing the President's Gratitude to representatives of various fields of activity, including specialists from Minsk region.

By Decree No. 452 of December 1, 2020, the President ordered for fruitful work, high professionalism, exemplary performance of official duties, significant personal contribution to ensuring the rule of law, strengthening law and order, preventing and responding to emergencies, providing highly qualified medical care and introducing new medical technologies, merits in the development of the processing industry, agriculture, the road industry, education, science, culture and art to confer the honorary title of Honored Worker of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Konstantinovich Khmaruk, Prosecutor of the Minsk Region, State Counselor of Justice of the 3rd class.

The President's gratitude for fruitful work, high professionalism, active participation in social and political life was announced:

Yulia Askerko, the head of the main department of organizational and personnel work of Minsk Regional Executive Committee;

Alexander Ilyasevich, head of the main department of ideological work, culture and youth affairs of Minsk Regional Executive Committee;

Andrey Zhaylovich, chairman of the Soligorsk regional executive committee;

Anastasia Kopikova, Deputy Chairman of Borisov District Executive Committee;

Larisa Korshun, Director - Chief Editor of Minsk Regional Unitary Enterprise “Editorial Office of the newspaper “Minskaya Pravda””;

Alesya Lukovskaya, Deputy Chairman of Molodechno Regional Executive Committee;

Angela Raemskoy, Deputy Chairman of Logoisk District Executive Committee;

Natalya Chernushevich, Deputy Chairman of Slutsk Regional Executive Committee;

Natalya Chernyshova, Deputy Chairman of the Pukhovichi District Executive Committee.

Vladimir Shmakov, director of the Borisov State Polytechnic College (branch of BNTU) - Gratitude was announced for fruitful pedagogical activity, high professionalism, significant personal contribution to the training of highly qualified specialists.

Dmitry Semibratov, senior inspector of the road patrol service of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Slutsk District Executive Committee, was awarded the President's Commendation for decisive and skillful actions to save human life.

Belarus registered 1,689 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours; another 1,608 coronavirus patients were discharged from hospital, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Healthcare Ministry.

The nationwide COVID-19 tally has reached 139,908 cases. A total of 117,195 patients previously diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered in Belarus.

As many as 1,174 COVID-19 patients suffering from a number of chronic diseases have died since the infection's outbreak in Belarus.

Belarus performed 3,306,693 tests, 27,556 – in the past 24 hours.

The CSTO leaders should hold an extended participation meeting to discuss topical issues of security, response to modern challenges and threats, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council on 2 December, BelTA has learned.

The head of state praised the fact that the CSTO leaders are holding an online meeting on 2 December. “But the situation shows that we must have a meeting taking into account the lessons of the recent events to discuss the prospects of our actions, to prevent things like that in all countries,” the president said. “There is no room for wishful thinking in this situation. Probably, all of us understand that. Therefore, I suggest that we should find time for an extended meeting with the participation of not only the CSTO members, not even of partners, like the president of Russia was saying here, but also with the participation of friendly countries that feel the danger which we are facing today.”

OAO Belaruskali produced more than 11.1 million tonnes of fertilizer in January-November, Director General of the company Ivan Golovaty said on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel on 1 December, BelTA has learned.

"In January-November we produced more than 11.1 million tonnes of fertilizer. I would like to note that this is the maximum 11-month result which the company has ever had," said Ivan Golovaty.

According to him, in January-November Belaruskali exported products to 110 countries. "These are the countries that have used our fertilizer, that know its quality, its stability. We really appreciate our customers because they have proved to be our reliable partners," he said.

The performance of Belaruskali was not affected either by attempts of sabotage nor by calls not to buy the Belarusian fertilizers.

The 3rd international symposium “Education for Sustainable Development for All Generations” will be held at the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University on 2-3 December, BelTA learned from the press service of the university.

The symposium makes part of Belarus' Sustainable Development Council action plan for 2020-2021 and the roadmap of Towards the Future We Want youth campaign implemented by the Education Ministry and the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus with the support of the UN agencies' offices.

The symposium will include the plenary session “Education for Sustainable Development: Vectors of Change”, the ceremony to award youth ambassadors of the Sustainable Development Goals, the roundtable “Education Component as a Driver for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals”, and also the panel discussion “Responsible Decisions and Innovations as a method to involve people in the processes of adaptation to climate change: best European practices”, the meet-up “Education for Sustainable Development: Successful Experience in Organizing ESD practices for all generations and Promotion of SDGs to local communities and regions”.

The symposium is organized by the Education for Sustainable Development Coordination Center of the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University.